AirPods 2 Coming Soon

 

Apple’s AirPods have gone a long time between updates, a lot longer than Apple products usually do anyway so it’s no surprise that rumours are flying around regarding the long overdue AirPods upgrade.

While we don’t have official confirmation from Apple, rumour has it the next generation AirPods (likely to be called AirPods 2) will be released in the first half of 2019. 

New Features

Hey Siri

The new AirPods will supposedly have “Hey Siri” functionality which was teased at the September 2018 keynote, but the latest leak also comes from Apple itself.

In the latest beta version of iOS (iOS 12.2), there is a hidden set-up screen that says ““Talk to Siri with your AirPods or iPhone by saying ‘Hey, Siri’.”

This beta version of iOS is only available to developers, but that feature was even hidden from them.  

This tells us that the next generation AirPods will likely be smart enough to recognise the phrase “Hey Siri” like the Apple Watch and iPhone currently do, but it also means that the AirPods may be able to recognise a specific voice, not just said phrase which could of course mean other voice commands may be possible too.

Biometric Capabilities

The AirPods 2 may also include biometric sensors that can measure your heart rate as well as sending other health data such as calories burned and body movement.

New Design

With these new biometric capabilities, we are likely to see a new design as well. This is unusual for Apple products as design is usually carried over more than one iteration such as the S range for the iPhone.  

A new design to make health monitoring functionality possible wasn’t expected this soon but the latest leaks and rumour do suggest a new design is imminent.

When exactly will it be released?

At the moment, all the rumours seem to point to some point in March. Apple will likely release quite a lot of new hardware at the same time including new iPads, a new iPod, AirPower charging mat and very likely AirPods 2.