There’s a fun new leak coming out of China saying that Apple will release “AirPods Pro” by the end of October. According to The Economic Daily News (via The Verge), AirPods Pro will include noise cancelling technology and a new in-ear design. A separate story from the news outlet said AirPods Pro would be made of metal, a function of the noise canceling feature.
AirPods Pro will priced at NT$8,000, which is roughly US$260 as of this writing.
I like this rumor. It would be a smart move for Apple, and I’ve long expected a some kind of AirPods upgrade cycle. Adopting the Pro moniker makes sense, too, and is in line with Apple’s recent naming schemes. That price point even makes sense, and it would allow Apple to continue selling the current generation of AirPods as an entry level product.
And I imagine Apple’s customer base will eat these up, if the company can meet demand.
The only real question to me is the time frame. Apple could well announce such a device by the end of October, but I bet they don’t ship immediately. Hopefully Apple can prove me wrong on that front, and to be fair, there’s the reference to new AirPods 9to5Mac uncovered in iOS 13.2 betas. That matches this story coming out China.
Yesterday one of our local TV news stations reported that Apple will release a $400 iPhone. It will have a single camera. Yeah, I wrote them about reporting rumor as fact.