Apple quietly releases shorter Lightning cable, new earbuds

Company now has a shorter cable as well as a pair of its in-ear headphones with the newer in-line remote that's fat-finger friendly.

Josh Lowensohn Former Senior Writer

Josh Lowensohn joined CNET in 2006 and now covers Apple. Before that, Josh wrote about everything from new Web start-ups, to remote-controlled robots that watch your house. Prior to joining CNET, Josh covered breaking video game news, as well as reviewing game software. His current console favorite is the Xbox 360.

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Josh Lowensohn

Feb. 14, 2013 11:49 a.m. PT

Apple today quietly put out new variants of its Lightning cable and its in-ear headphones.

The new Lightning cable is a half a meter long, half the length of the one that ships with Apple's latest iOS gadgets, and that's currently Apple's top seller. Despite the shorter length, both cables cost $19.

The other change is a bit more minor, with Apple adding its larger, fat-finger friendly remote to its $79 in-ear headphones. Apple changed up its design on that remote with its EarPods last September (see CNET's review of those here).

It's not unusual for Apple to make small tweaks to its products mid-lifecycle without too much fanfare. Yesterday the company released an updated version of its MacBook Pro with Retina Display, lowering the price of its models as well as the cost of upgrades to higher SSD capacities.

(Via MacRumors)

Correction, February 15 at 1:21 PT: An earlier version of this story used an incorrect link for the $79 in-ear headphones. The link has been updated.