Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has shared that he expects Apple to begin mass production of its second-generation AirPods Pro during the second half of the year, reporting that the earbuds will be produced outside of China and manufactured in Vietnam, and suggesting that the charging case will continue to use Lightning and not USB-C.
Kuo’s predictions for the charging case continuing to feature the Lightning port over USB-C comes amid speculation that Apple will drop the Lightning port from future iPhone models as soon as next year, with the iPhone maker seemingly bending to pressure from a legislation from the European Parliament to replace Lightning with USB-C on future products.
Rumors have long speculated on what upgrades Apple will introduce with its next-gen AirPods Pro. Rumors have suggested that the earbuds will feature a major redesign, with the iPhone maker expected to remove the short stem found on the current models to give the earbuds a similar design to the Beats Fit Pro which sit inside a listener’s ear without any overhang, an improved chip, and health monitoring features.
Reports have suggested that the new AirPods Pro will have support for Lossless Audio, something that currently requires a wired connection to headphones, receivers or powered speakers to listen to music without traditional audio compression, allowing listeners to hear songs more clearly and as the artist intended.
It is believed Apple will announce its next-gen AirPods Pro towards the end of the year.
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