In the event you had been itching for a brand new pair of AirPods Professional, you might wish to clip these fingernails as a result of that itch may persist for an additional 12 months. In line with one more Apple analyst, the AirPods Professional 3 may be delayed till 2026, extending the earlier rumored timeline that projected a launch this 12 months. The rumored delay comes courtesy of Apple analyst Jeff Pu, who corroborates earlier intel from fellow analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. If Pu and Kuo’s data are appropriate, it might make the AirPods Professional 2 three years previous earlier than the discharge of the following era.
Apple Product Timeline by Jeff Pu, GF Securities Hong Kong pic.twitter.com/jEIGMi7Twv
— Jukan Choi (@Jukanlosreve) June 15, 2025
In trendy Apple time, three years is principally a century. In iPad years, it’s even longer—these guys can’t go 14 minutes with out releasing one other iteration. And as for normal, non-Apple, human years, I feel it nonetheless looks as if a very long time to attend for an additional iteration of AirPods, although if the rumors are to be believed, the replace might be well worth the wait. Apple is reportedly contemplating some main upgrades that embody the addition of a well being sensor and probably—and it is a bizarre one—cameras.
In line with a earlier report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, infrared cameras may be coming in your subsequent pair of AirPods Professional, which sounds unusual on the floor however makes a whole lot of sense when you begin to unpack some potential use circumstances. For one, infrared cameras may allow new hand gestures, making them half earbuds and half wearable—a transfer that Apple is clearly interested by primarily based on rumors of a well being sensor. What’s much more fascinating, nonetheless, are the cameras’ implications for AI. In line with Gurman’s report, the cameras will “feed information to AI,” which may imply actually any variety of issues, however it might imply one factor for certain, and that’s that AirPods Professional are going to get some sort of AI infusion. That dose of AI might be the issue.
Whereas we are able to’t say for certain what’s delaying Apple’s next-gen AirPods Professional, if I needed to guess, Apple Intelligence has extra to do with the holdup than you assume. Wi-fi earbuds, exterior of AirPods, have been trending within the course of AI for a few years now. Nothing’s Ear wi-fi earbuds, for instance, had been the primary wi-fi earbuds to roll out a ChatGPT integration, which, as I wrote again then, is theoretically kind of an ideal gadget to showcase AI. There’s an opportunity that Apple may be following in that course with its subsequent pair of AirPods, which is fascinating and probably helpful however problematic when you think about that Apple Intelligence—particularly, its AI Siri improve—hasn’t precisely gone off and not using a hitch. If Apple is actually interested by infusing its AirPods Professional 3 with AI and the entire AI factor isn’t precisely going effectively, then…
It’s laborious to say for certain what’s inflicting the delay, however there’s just about just one factor Apple has been fighting as of late, and it’s AI. Including some credence to that principle is the truth that, according to Bloomberg, AI Siri gained’t arrive till spring of subsequent 12 months. The timing, then, might be excellent, but when the 2 merchandise are tied collectively, then I wouldn’t maintain your breath since, according to Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, Apple needs to “have [Siri] very a lot in hand” earlier than it begins speaking about dates for “apparent causes.”
