AirPods 3 unlikely to launch until 2021 – so will we see any new AirPods today at WWDC?
You probably won’t see the AirPods 3 today
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TheApple AirPods 3won’t launch until 2021, says industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has been proven right about numerousAppleproduct launches in the past.
According to9to5Mac, the prolific Apple analyst believes that Apple “will continue to sell second-generation AirPods through this year’s holiday season”, replacing the populartrue wireless earbudswith the AirPods 3 “in the first half of 2021”.
The new ‘Pods will apparently take their design cues from theAirPods Pro, which ditched the rigid plastic tips and super long ear stems of the2019 Apple AirPods, in favor of silicone eartips and a sleeker look. Whether that means they’ll come with noise cancellation as well remains to be seen.
AirPods 3 rumors have been coming in thick and fast in recent weeks. Most recently, we heard thatApple is planning to fit ambient light sensors to future versions of the AirPods– sensors which could make them much more useful as health monitoring devices, akin to thebest fitness headphonesin the world.
What about WWDC 2020?
Kuo’s prediction may come as a disappointment to those who were hoping to see the AirPods 3 atWWDC 2020, which kicks off today at 10AM PT / 1PM ET / 6PM BST (3AM AEST on June 23).
All is not lost, however. Despite rumors that the keynote won’t include any hardware announcements, our fingers are crossed for the launch of Apple’s firstover-ear headphones, theAirPods Studio, and perhaps even a newsmart speaker, the so-calledApple HomePod 2.
The keynote isfree to watch– and you can follow all the action with ourWWDC liveblog. As a software-focused event, we’re expecting to seeiOS 14,iPadOS 14,watchOS 7, andmacOS 10.16, and perhapstvOS 14– here’s hoping we see some new audio hardware, too.
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Olivia was previously TechRadar’s Senior Editor - Home Entertainment, covering everything from headphones to TVs. Based in London, she’s a popular music graduate who worked in the music industry before finding her calling in journalism. She’s previously been interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live on the subject of multi-room audio, chaired panel discussions on diversity in music festival lineups, and her bylines include T3, Stereoboard, What to Watch, Top Ten Reviews, Creative Bloq, and Croco Magazine. Olivia now has a career in PR.
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