Beats 360 : A sweat-proof headphone built for the gym and the commute 🎧

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Beats has unveiled the 360, its new Bluetooth headphone designed to keep up with both everyday commutes and sweaty workouts. The pitch is simple: the ear cushions can be swapped out to change the headphone’s look, and to extend its lifespan. Quietly showcased at the 2026 FIFA World Cup and previously spotted in an Amazon leak, the headphone is now official. With it, Beats is venturing into territory it hasn’t fully claimed before, leaning harder into sport without abandoning daily use.

Built to handle sweat 💦

The Beats 360 is the brand’s first over-ear headphone (meaning the cushions fully surround the ear) engineered to resist sweat. Its IPX4 rating lets it handle splashes and perspiration. To protect the internal components, Beats added shielding behind the drivers, and used a fabric designed to hold up better against sweat over time.

That resistance isn’t the whole story, though. The ear cushions and headband padding can be removed and replaced with ease, so you can mix and match colors to get the look you want. More importantly, when a cushion wears out, you can swap just that piece instead of replacing the entire headphone.

Sound that adapts to you 🎶

To produce sound, Beats fitted the 360 with 40mm drivers built specifically for this model. The headphone also offers spatial audio that tracks head movement, aiming to keep sound anchored in space as you move. On top of that, it automatically adjusts audio output based on who’s wearing it, and recognizes which cushions are installed to tune the sound accordingly.

Stronger noise cancellation 🔇

Beats is also targeting noisy environments. The 360 uses eight of its nine microphones for noise cancellation, and the company claims it’s 1.75 times more effective than the Studio Pro. Transparency mode, meanwhile, lets you hear your surroundings without taking the headphone off.

For calls, three microphones are dedicated to capturing voice, and an AI-driven system works to suppress background noise for clearer conversations. The headphone works with both iPhone and Android devices, and supports fast pairing and Find My-style location tracking. On iPhone, you can also access Siri by voice.

Physical controls for your music 🎵

Beats kept physical controls on the back of the ear cups for volume, playback, and calls. The 360 can’t be used with an audio cable, though—its USB-C port is charging-only.

Another limitation: simultaneous multipoint connection only works between two devices within the same ecosystem, iOS or Android. You can’t pair it to an iPhone and an Android device at the same time.

Up to 32 hours of listening 🔋

On battery life, Beats claims up to 32 hours with noise cancellation and automatic sound adjustment turned on. The headphone weighs 294 grams—on the heavier side, though still lighter than the AirPods Max 2, at 382 grams.

The Beats 360 is priced at $349.95, undercutting several premium rivals, notably the Sony WH-1000XM6 (around $449) and the Bose QuietComfort Ultra (close to $400). It’s already available to order on Apple’s website and through select retailers, with in-store availability starting September 24, 2026.

It comes in four colors—black, snow, pink, and sky blue. Replacement cushions come in fabric or vegan leather and normally cost $59.95 a pair. As a launch offer, Beats is pricing them at $9.95 through the end of October, before the price reverts to $59.95 on November 1, 2026.

With the 360, Beats is testing an approach few premium makers commit to so directly: betting on modularity instead of simply replacing an aging device. It’s a move that could catch on in an industry where planned obsolescence is still the norm.

If you had to choose, would you go for a headphone like the Beats 360, with swappable cushions, or a classic model without that option? Let us know in the comments.