Apple's Plan to Introduce New AirPods Later This Year Reportedly Delayed

Apple's plan to release an updated version of AirPods later this year has been delayed due to the global health crisis, according to the Nikkei Asian Review.

AirPods3
This lines up with a recent report from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who said that mass production of third-generation AirPods will begin in the first half of 2021, followed by mass production of second-generation AirPods Pro between the fourth quarter of 2021 and the first quarter of 2022. Kuo also expects Apple's rumored high-end over-ear headphones to enter mass production at some point in mid-2020.

Kuo did acknowledge rumors of new AirPods coming in the second half of 2020, but he said they are "more likely to be the new Beats model." Last month, leaker Jon Prosser claimed that Apple was planning to release so-called "AirPods X" around September or October with a BeatsX-like design for sports and running.

Apple's second-generation AirPods launched in March 2019, while the AirPods Pro were released at the end of October.

Related Roundup: AirPods 4
Tag: Nikkei
Buyer's Guide: AirPods (Buy Now)
Related Forum: AirPods

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
iPadOS 26 App Windowing

Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

Friday June 13, 2025 7:46 am PDT by
iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why. In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like ...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday June 12, 2025 8:58 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
Logitech Logo Feature

Logitech Announces Two New Accessories for WWDC

Friday June 13, 2025 7:22 am PDT by
Alongside WWDC this week, Logitech announced notable new accessories for the iPad and Apple Vision Pro. The Logitech Muse is a spatially-tracked stylus developed for use with the Apple Vision Pro. Introduced during the WWDC 2025 keynote address, Muse is intended to support the next generation of spatial computing workflows enabled by visionOS 26. The device incorporates six degrees of...
iOS 26 Screens

Here Are All the iOS 26 Features That Require iPhone 15 Pro or Newer

Thursday June 12, 2025 4:53 am PDT by
With iOS 26, Apple has introduced some major changes to the iPhone experience, headlined by the new Liquid Glass redesign that's available across all compatible devices. However, several of the update's features are exclusive to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models, since they rely on Apple Intelligence. The following features are powered by on-device large language models and machine...
CarPlay Liquid Glass Dark

Apple to Let iPhone Users Watch Videos on CarPlay Screen While Parked

Thursday June 12, 2025 6:16 am PDT by
Apple this week announced that iPhone users will soon be able to watch videos right on the CarPlay screen in supported vehicles. iPhone users will be able to wirelessly stream videos to the CarPlay screen using AirPlay, according to Apple. For safety reasons, video playback will only be available when the vehicle is parked, to prevent distracted driving. The connected iPhone will be able to...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

Hate iOS 26's Liquid Glass Design? Here's How to Tone It Down

Wednesday June 11, 2025 4:22 pm PDT by
iOS 26 features a whole new design material that Apple calls Liquid Glass, with a focus on transparency that lets the content on your display shine through the controls. If you're not a fan of the look, or are having trouble with readability, there is a step that you can take to make things more opaque without entirely losing out on the new look. Apple has multiple Accessibility options that ...
Mac Studio Feature

Apple Begins Selling Refurbished Mac Studio With M4 Max and M3 Ultra Chips at a Discount

Thursday June 12, 2025 10:14 am PDT by
Apple today added Mac Studio models with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chips to its online certified refurbished store in the United States, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and many European countries, for the first time since they were released in March. As usual for refurbished Macs, prices are discounted by approximately 15% compared to the equivalent new models on Apple's online store. Note that Apple's ...
iOS 26 Feature

Apple Seeds Revised iOS 26 Developer Beta to Fix Battery Issue

Friday June 13, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with a revised version of the first iOS 26 beta for testing purposes. The update is only available for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models, so if you're running iOS 26 on an iPhone 14 or earlier, you won't see the revised beta. Registered developers can download the new beta software through the Settings app on each device. The revised beta addresses an...

Top Rated Comments

roland.g Avatar
67 months ago
My AirPods are 2 years old. Bought them for my wife for Mother’s Day along with a Watch which she loves but she never used the AirPods. After 6 months in a drawer I started using them and have for 18 months or so. Because the mic on traditional wired headphones was on the right ear bud, I use that one for all my calls and rarely listen to music with them. Mostly just for calls and music on the occasional workout. After 18 months of use the right AirPod won’t hold much of a charge at all. The left is ok but not fantastic. Do I buy a replacement right AirPod to get a new battery or wait until a next generation. It is unfortunate these devices have a fairly short life span because of the inherent problem of a high use device relying on a tiny battery. Only so many charge cycles it can handle.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HiVolt Avatar
67 months ago

My AirPods are 2 years old. Bought them for my wife for Mother’s Day along with a Watch which she loves but she never used the AirPods. After 6 months in a drawer I started using them and have for 18 months or so. Because the mic on traditional wired headphones was on the right ear bud, I use that one for all my calls and rarely listen to music with them. Mostly just for calls and music on the occasional workout. After 18 months of use the right AirPod won’t hold much of a charge at all. The left is ok but not fantastic. Do I buy a replacement right AirPod to get a new battery or wait until a next generation. It is unfortunate these devices have a fairly short life span because of the inherent problem of a high use device relying on a tiny battery. Only so many charge cycles it can handle.
My airpods are 2 years old, always used as a pair, and when one of them gets into the red with under 10%, the other still has 39-40%. The difference was already there maybe 15-20% when they weren't a year old, I went to Apple and they said it was "within spec". Bullshizzle if you ask me.

But yeah, such is life with expensive disposable products, because the headphone jack was so bad.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Yr Blues Avatar
67 months ago

My AirPods are 2 years old. Bought them for my wife for Mother’s Day along with a Watch which she loves but she never used the AirPods. After 6 months in a drawer I started using them and have for 18 months or so. Because the mic on traditional wired headphones was on the right ear bud, I use that one for all my calls and rarely listen to music with them. Mostly just for calls and music on the occasional workout. After 18 months of use the right AirPod won’t hold much of a charge at all. The left is ok but not fantastic. Do I buy a replacement right AirPod to get a new battery or wait until a next generation. It is unfortunate these devices have a fairly short life span because of the inherent problem of a high use device relying on a tiny battery. Only so many charge cycles it can handle.
Would be nice to have user replaceable battery. Unscrew the cap, stick one in. It's 2020. Must be the financial department still running things.

Companies don't really support renewable products. Planned obsolescence is still a thing.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
roland.g Avatar
67 months ago

Assuming the AirPods were in the drawer with full battery, the battery capacity might have degraded slightly since they weren't used at all. " Conversely, if you store it fully charged for an extended period of time, the battery may lose some capacity, leading to shorter battery life." from: https://www.apple.com/hk/en/batteries/maximizing-performance/
Fairly common knowledge that AirPods are not living past 18-24 months. Some are getting longer but not the hoped for 4-5 years.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
roland.g Avatar
67 months ago

My airpods are 2 years old, always used as a pair, and when one of them gets into the red with under 10%, the other still has 39-40%. The difference was already there maybe 15-20% when they weren't a year old, I went to Apple and they said it was "within spec". Bullshizzle if you ask me.

But yeah, such is life with expensive disposable products, because the headphone jack was so bad.
I agree but I don’t have an issue with the headphone jack. Use the lighting buds in my opinion if you will suffer wired. I’m not a walk around with Bluetooth in my ear kind of person but I have been using some sort of wireless or CarPlay or car Bluetooth for years. Bought the Dash by Bragi which were the first AirPods style wireless earbuds out and used them till I took over my wife’s AirPods. I just can’t stand pulling a tangled set of headphones out and I don’t want to hold the phone during calls. Usually I am talking and need my hands free or simply prefer the comfort of it.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Baymowe335 Avatar
67 months ago

Pipeline too cluttered Timo?
Yeah, he’s probably really worried with all these speculative reports.

Tim actually has a clue what’s going on at Apple.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)