The next Airpods Pro should get health functions
The Airpods should soon be able to do more than just play music and podcasts. As the usually well-informed Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman reports, the earbuds are to be given a number of health-tracking functions in the long term. Furthermore, there is talk of changing the charging connection in the case and also of a price reduction for the cheapest earplugs.
Do you believe that Gurman’s information, so Apple is working on a new hearing test function that plays different tones and sounds. This should allow the Airpods to determine how good a person’s hearing is. The idea behind this is to help users look for possible hearing problems, similar to how the Apple Watch’s ECG app can detect heart problems. A corresponding report was already circulating in March.
Editor’s Recommendations
The hearing test currently in development could meanwhile “sherlock” existing apps like Mimi and thus make them superfluous. According to Gurman, Apple met with the developers of the app a few years ago.
In addition, Apple could revise the Airpods so that they can also be used as a hearing aid, according to Gurman. Apple had already hired engineers from classic hearing aid manufacturers to make the appropriate adjustments.
At least in the USA, the earplugs could be used as hearing aids: Because the requirements for hearing aids were relaxed there a while ago. The sale of hearing aids is now possible without a medical examination or a certificate. Apple wants to use this opportunity to play in this lucrative market segment: The hearing aid market generates annual sales of ten billion US dollars.
According to Gurman, Apple’s engineers are also working on adding sensors to the earbuds to measure body temperature through the wearer’s ear canal.
This type of body temperature measurement is considered to be more accurate than wrist temperature measurement. This method is currently used with the Apple Watch Series 8 (test) and the Watch Ultra. Apple only uses the watch’s data, which is only collected during sleep, for fertility monitoring. In the long term, the company also wants to use them to determine whether a person has a cold or another illness, for example, according to Bloomberg.
It will probably be a while before the health functions find their way into the Airpods. On the one hand, they are probably still in development. On the other hand, Apple seems to be using a three-year cycle for its earplugs: The Airpods Pro were launched in 2019 and received an update in 2022. The situation is similar with the “normal” Airpods: The first generation appeared in 2016 and was updated in 2019 and 2021.
Contrary to this update cycle, Gurman expects that Apple will at least update the charging case this year and provide it with a USB‑C connection. This switch comes at the same time as the move to the unified charging port on the iPhone 15, which is expected later in September.
In addition, Apple could reduce the price of its cheapest Airpods. Apple continues to offer the second generation Airpods despite the introduction of the third generation in 2021. For this, the group requires 129 dollars in the USA and 159 euros in Europe. For $99, Apple could make its Airpods an even stronger competitor to the earbuds from Samsung, Amazon and others, Gurman says.
Alongside Gurman, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted that Apple could launch a cheaper variant of the Airpods. He goes from a launch towards the end of 2024. At the same time, a new version of the Airpods Max could be launched.
On the software side, Apple will add new functions to the Airpods over the course of the fall with the release of iOS 17: Adaptive audio, personalized volume and conversation recognition are moving into the new Pro models, which Apple says “redefine the personal audio experience”. The update also brings improvements in automatic switching and call control.
