Mike Wuerthele
Refining a previous prediction, Ming-Chi Kuo is now saying that a new model of AirPods Pro is expected to arrive in late 2022.
Following the AirPods Pro release in October 2019, rumors about a new version began nearly immediately afterwards. Now, it appears that a release period has been refined.
In a note to investors seen by AppleInsider, noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo posits that the devices will be ready in the fourth calendar quarter of 2022. This is the narrowest forecast that has been put forth so far, with the first suggesting 2022, follow-up ones suggesting the second half of 2022, and the most recent saying the fourth calendar quarter of 2022.
This timetable puts it around Apple's traditional fall release period.
Continued product leaks for new AirPods Pro have shown a shortened stem for the product. Kuo didn't chime in on that this time, but does suspect that "the main chip may be significantly upgraded."
AirPods Pro are also reportedly gaining a redesign that adds updated motion trackers for greater fitness applications. That redesign reportedly includes an entirely new interior assembly, and perhaps two different sizes.
In Wednesday's note, Kuo suspects that Luxshare-ICT will be a main supplier for the product.
Previously, Kuo has said that the AirPods and Beats platforms as a whole at a wide range of price points is important for future growth for Apple, and may be a "halo" product for the company as a whole.
"AirPods are higher priced, target Apple device users, and aim to provide innovation and eco-experience to increase added value," Kuo says. "Beats are lower-priced, target Apple and non-Apple device users, and increase shipments or market share."
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6 Comments
How much does Ming-Chi Kuo get paid to say “at some point there’ll be <product> <version>”? Because in essence that’s what he’s saying. All he does is move the already wide date range when products don’t turn up in the time he predicted. Then sometimes uses unsubstantiated "supply chain sources" to claim there have been design/manufacturing issues to justify changing his guess. I know this is a rumour site, that's what we're here for, but any Tom Dick or Harry can guess that there will be a new <product>/<version> at some point and would probably get it right.
These need to go hardcore into medical. Advanced Hearing assistance(I had this idea way before the weak AirPods feature), physical tracking like heart rate, calories burned, health warnings etc
The reason being, knockoffs are gonna flood the market even more and these features will be hard to copy.
Sure, Beats. That would all be very cool. All those things would be pretty hard on battery life though, seeing as the battery is already running physical drivers. You might get heart rate to start maybe and the rest would stay on the iphone.
What does "powerful" mean, related to earphones?