In the event you had been itching for a brand new pair of AirPods Professional, you could need to clip these fingernails as a result of that itch might persist for an additional yr. In keeping with one more Apple analyst, the AirPods Professional 3 is perhaps delayed till 2026, extending the earlier rumored timeline that projected a launch this yr. The rumored delay comes courtesy of Apple analyst Jeff Pu, who corroborates earlier intel from fellow analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. If Pu and Kuo’s data are appropriate, it could make the AirPods Professional 2 three years outdated earlier than the discharge of the subsequent era.
Apple Product Timeline by Jeff Pu, GF Securities Hong Kong pic.twitter.com/jEIGMi7Twv
— Jukan Choi (@Jukanlosreve) June 15, 2025
In trendy Apple time, three years is mainly a century. In iPad years, it’s even longer—these guys can’t go 14 minutes with out releasing one other iteration. And as for normal, non-Apple, human years, I feel it nonetheless looks like a very long time to attend for an additional iteration of AirPods, although if the rumors are to be believed, the replace could possibly be definitely worth the wait. Apple is reportedly contemplating some main upgrades that embody the addition of a well being sensor and doubtlessly—and this can be a bizarre one—cameras.
In keeping with a earlier report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, infrared cameras is perhaps coming in your subsequent pair of AirPods Professional, which sounds unusual on the floor however makes lots of sense when you begin to unpack some potential use instances. For one, infrared cameras might allow new hand gestures, making them half earbuds and half wearable—a transfer that Apple is clearly fascinated by based mostly on rumors of a well being sensor. What’s much more attention-grabbing, nonetheless, are the cameras’ implications for AI. In keeping with Gurman’s report, the cameras will “feed information to AI,” which might imply actually any variety of issues, however it could imply one factor for certain, and that’s that AirPods Professional are going to get some form of AI infusion. That dose of AI could possibly be the issue.
Whereas we are able to’t say for certain what’s delaying Apple’s next-gen AirPods Professional, if I needed to guess, Apple Intelligence has extra to do with the holdup than you suppose. Wi-fi earbuds, exterior of AirPods, have been trending within the course of AI for a few years now. Nothing’s Ear wi-fi earbuds, for instance, had been the primary wi-fi earbuds to roll out a ChatGPT integration, which, as I wrote again then, is theoretically kind of an ideal gadget to showcase AI. There’s an opportunity that Apple is perhaps following in that course with its subsequent pair of AirPods, which is attention-grabbing and doubtlessly helpful however problematic when you think about that Apple Intelligence—specifically, its AI Siri improve—hasn’t precisely gone off with out a hitch. If Apple is de facto fascinated by infusing its AirPods Professional 3 with AI and the entire AI factor isn’t precisely going effectively, then…
It’s laborious to say for certain what’s inflicting the delay, however there’s just about just one factor Apple has been combating as of late, and it’s AI. Including some credence to that concept is the truth that, according to Bloomberg, AI Siri received’t arrive till spring of subsequent yr. The timing, then, could possibly be splendid, but when the 2 merchandise are tied collectively, then I wouldn’t maintain your breath since, according to Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, Apple desires to “have [Siri] very a lot in hand” earlier than it begins speaking about dates for “apparent causes.”
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