The AirPods 3 or third generation would be close to launch: in Asia there is the belief that the start of production is close, very close
The third generation of AirPods should now be close to presentation. This is what the newspaper Nikkei Asia has obtained information on the start of production for the new true wireless headphones from Apple, appreciated by users with iOS but also by those who use an Android smartphone.
The AirPods 3 have been hypothesized for months, and according to the rumors of the beginning of the year it seemed that they would arrive in May, practically at WWDC21. However, at Apple’s developer event there was no sign of the third-generation AirPods, so their launch had to be rescheduled, at least from the fans’ point of view. It seems, however, that now we have come full circle or at least that we are close to having a date or a period in which the Apple headphones will arrive on the market, to replace a model that now dates back to 2019.
Starting production
According to information collected by Nikkei Asia, Apple would have scheduled the start of mass production of AirPods 3 for August. It would then be a month or so before the first units of third-generation AirPods come out of the production facilities of Apple ready for the market.
That should happen by the end of the year – on this aspect there are few uncertainties – but it is not yet known when. The first possibility is that Apple presents the AirPods 3 together with the iPhone 13, which should come to light in September and on which the company has high hopes, probably around the middle of the month.
If they don’t come along with the new iPhones, then they could be launched at the same event from which the new MacBook Pro with M1X chip will come out, and if they don’t become official even on this occasion then we’ll have to wait until 2022, a hypothesis however that rumors, at least at the moment, seem not to want to take into consideration.
AirPods 3, what will they be like?
But what will these third-generation AirPods be like? There’s not a lot of information about it, but the few that have come in so far have put forward some speculations anyway. Rumor has it that the design of the AirPods 3 may be inspired by those of the current AirPods Pro, so with a shorter stem than the current one and with silicone grommets covering the part of the earbud to be inserted into the ear canal.
They would become in-ear headphones, or very close to being so, which seems unlikely: among the secrets of the success of the first and second generation AirPods is their shape that has little to do with in-ear headphones, so you can have more than a few doubts about Apple’s real intention to intervene on what is one of the strengths of the current AirPods, as well as one that differentiates them from the competition.
However, the rumors continue, the AirPods 3 will be yes similar to the Pro but unlike these will not have active noise cancellation. We will have to wait to find out Apple’s real intentions for one of the best-selling products in the range.