Update: It gets worse. After months of expectation, the Apple Airpods 2 were completely absent from Apple's annual iPhone launch event this September, though either way we weren't expecting them to be on sale until some point in 2019. Check out our predictions for the Apple AirPods 2, which are rumored to be water-resistant and comes with new features for Apple's smart assistant Siri.
Original article continued below...
If you’ve been patiently waiting for the next generation of Apple AirPods, you may have to wait a little longer.
The good news is that you’re likely going to see the Apple AirPods 2 mentioned on stage at Apple’s September iPhone event … but, bad news, you probably won’t be able to bring them home until sometime next year.
The information comes by way of Barclays analyst Blayne Curtis who reports that while the new water-resistant AirPods won’t hit the market until late 2019, a version of the AirPod carrying case that supports wireless charging that we've heard rumors about in the past could be available as early as late September.
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That means that we'll probably see the AirPad-ready AirPods case on stage during Apple's September event with a release date to follow shortly after.
Even better, on the software side of things, Apple may potentially add 'Hey Siri' support to the original AirPods by the end of the year – and make that a cornerstone feature of the true wireless earbuds moving forward.
All about that info
Curtis got this information during a tour of Apple’s Asian hardware suppliers and compiled a report of observations and predictions that was put out to investors. This report was subsequently obtained by MacRumors.
While MacRumors didn't post the report in full, it did post product highlights – many of which focusing on the AirPods and the next-generation iPhones.
That said, also mentioned in the MacRumors post was a cheaper HomePod that could launch in 2019, which would help Apple compete with the Amazon Echo and Google Home. While a small Apple HomePod would make sense to us, other analysts suggest that it very well may take the form of a Siri-enabled Beats speaker instead.
There's no telling how many of these products will make their way on-stage during Apple's next keynote that's supposedly slated for September but, based on the Barclays report, Apple's next-gen AirPods could very likely make an appearance.
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