Apple and Beats on Tuesday unveiled the much-anticipated Powerbeats Pro 2 wireless earbuds. Surprisingly, the new version of the Powerbeats Pro comes with features that aren’t even present in Apple’s AirPods. Luckily, we already know some of Apple’s plans for the future of the AirPods.
Latest rumors about future AirPods
Certainly one of the highlights of the new Powerbeats Pro 2 is the built-in heart rate sensor. This is the first accessory from Apple apart from the Apple Watch to include a health-related sensor and hints at even more health sensors coming to such devices in the future. Of course, Powerbeats Pro are workout-focused earbuds, but it’s still surprising to see Apple choosing to introduce such technology first in a Beats product.
What about AirPods? Will they also get a heart rate sensor in the future? We don’t need rumors to assume that they will, but multiple sources have already corroborated that Apple is working on AirPods with health-related sensors.
Top comment by Hazen
Apple’s AirPod strategy is effectively:
Introduce customer to AirPods
Make AirPods Pro more appealing than AirPods to customer
Make AirPods Max less appealing because the robust design and larger battery means they’ll last longer and they won’t need to be updated as frequently as other AirPods or else we’ll lose money on that customer
Put all your efforts into AirPods Pro and ignore the other products
Give the lower end AirPods confusing pricing and names so customers scale up to AirPods Pro
…At this point Apple should just discontinue all AirPods products except for the Pro and give them the option to go silicone tips or not. Everything else is just inflated pricing, bad feature mixes, or have too few features.
Apple are so desperate to force customers into the high profit low margin product that they wear on it their sleeve like a badge of honour… So for those reasons… I avoid them like the plague.
The first and most obvious would be the same heart rate sensor built into the new Powerbeats Pro 2. More specifically, Apple has plans to include the sensor in the next generation AirPods Pro. We don’t know when exactly Apple will launch AirPods Pro 3, but given that AirPods Pro 2 were launched in 2022, it probably won’t be much longer. Possibly later this year.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported last year that Apple has also been exploring sensors that can determine body temperature through the ear canal. The company is also working on camera sensors for AirPods, but these technologies won’t be ready in time for AirPods Pro 3.
What else can we expect? For AirPods Pro 3, a refreshed design, although there’s little information about what it will look like. The entry-level AirPods model was recently updated with a new design and ANC, so it’s unlikely that a new version will be on the way any time soon. Apple also has no “meaningful” plans for AirPods Max after last year’s refresh with USB-C.
What about you? What do you expect from future AirPods models? Let us know in the comments section below.
Read also
- Buy new AirPods at discounted prices
- Buy the new Powerbeats Pro 2
- Apple is reportedly developing AirPods with cameras: Here’s what that means
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