Apple to release over-ear headphones, next-gen HomePod and premium AirPods in 2019
Apple is preparing to release new over-ear headphones, a next-generation ‘HomePod 2’ and a premium pair of AirPods in 2019 according to Bloomberg who reported on Monday that Apple is working to pump up the volume on its audio-device strategy.
After it was suggested the headphones would launch in late 2018, after facing “development challenges” Apple is expected to unveil new over-ear headphones as a “higher-end alternative to the company’s Beats line,”. The new headphones are expected to offer ‘studio-quality’ sound and ‘Hey Siri’ support.
Bloomberg reports that Apple has been intermittently working on their headphone project for some time, similar to HomePod which was reportedly in production for five years, claiming that the company may scrap the project entirely if they are unable to overcome their “development challenges”.
The higher-priced premium AirPods will reportedly offer better noise-cancellation, and water resistance.
It’s not clear what new features the next-generation ‘HomePod 2’ will bring, however; some have suggested that a lower-priced HomePod is in the pipeline to help Apple to compete with the Amazon Echo and Google Home which are priced significantly cheeper than the current HomePod model.
Apple will reportedly move some of its HomePod and AirPods production away from supplier Inventec, with iPhone supplier Foxconn said to be a key player in the new premium earphones.
The Apple Post released concept images of the rumored Apple headphones, envisioning that Apple would take a simple yet stylish approach when designing their ‘high-end over-ear’ headphones, bringing across the familiar glossy outer finish and chrome outlines found on the iPhone X.
The report claims that from information shared by people familiar with the matter, Apple internally discussed adding biometric sensors to future AirPods, meaning the earphones could act as a heart-rate monitor to further Apple’s push into health-related hardware.