AirPods 3 could arrive in September with iPhone 13

Guessing Apple’s name for their new products can be as fun as guessing what they’re going to make and how much they will cost. At this point in the company’s history, some naming trends are clear.

Apple enjoys giving its own iPhone and iPad names that use numbers, words and letters, for example iPhone 11, iPad Pro and iPhone SE. The same cannot be said of its other products, such as the Apple TV, iMac, MacBook, etc., all of which have avoided numbers to determine how recent they are.

Given this pattern, we think it’s unlikely that the AirPods 3 will actually be called AirPods 3. Many have speculated that they might be called AirPods Pro Lite, given their similarity to AirPods Pro from a design point of view. But “Pro Lite” feels awkward. How can something be “professional” and “light”? Isn’t that an oxymoron?

We think Apple is likely to consider the upcoming AirPods just a generational upgrade, hence the “third generation AirPods”, or take advantage of the Apple TV+ “plus” and then the AirPods+.

If these new earbuds fall between the current AirPods and AirPods Pro in terms of features or price, and especially if Apple decides to keep three in the lineup, calling them AirPods+ would make perfect sense.

However, Kuo, who has an impressive track record of Apple predictions, continues to reference it on AirPods 3.

Initially, it was thought that the AirPods 3 would use the silicone tips of the AirPods Pro, so they would automatically provide better sound quality than current AirPods, with all the benefits that that means.

A completely closed ear canal would have meant that the sound it produced could not escape and that competing external sounds could not enter. But the open design without a direct ear canal seal has limits in how good the sound can be.

The Earin A-3, which was launched earlier this year, proves that these open designs may look better than the current AirPods, but they’re unlikely to look as good as the AirPods Pro.

While ANC is usually associated with closed ear canal designs, this is slowly changing. Samsung introduced the feature in the Galaxy Buds Live, which does not enter the ear canal. Of course, Samsung’s efforts in this area have not proved particularly successful, but this does not mean that Apple faces similar problems.

It’s worth noting that the AirPods Pro are still among the best ANC headphones we’ve tested — Apple clearly knows a thing or two about how well ANC performs.

However, Elec’s report, which cites a Korean seller that claims to be part of the upcoming AirPods chipset, says that these new earbuds won’t have any kind of noise cancellation.

Transparency mode works well on AirPods Pro; It is arguably one of its best features. But the Transparency mode is only needed if the headphone design does a good job of passively isolating external sounds.

Without the silicone sleeves, it’s doubtful the AirPods 3 need a transparency setting, but that doesn’t mean Apple won’t include one anyway, as there are still benefits, even with the open design like better call quality by letting you listen. Your voice is clearer.

It can be hard to question Apple’s pricing, but we already know two things: AirPods Pro at $249, and AirPods at $159 if you buy the model without wireless charging. So any AirPods model that claims to fall between these two in terms of features should be in between in terms of price as well.

We’re assuming the AirPods 3 are priced at $199, which is the current cost of a set of AirPods with wireless charging. Coincidentally, this is the price predicted by the Korean seller who spoke to The Elec, who said it would be priced “20 percent less” than the AirPods Pro.

What about existing AirPods? Apple will keep it at $159, but now you’ll get the included wireless charging case at that price. If Apple decides to upgrade only the basic AirPods instead of creating a new product, the prices will likely remain exactly the same.

It seems that the one thing all sources agree on so far is that new Apple headphones will appear in 2021. In 2020, Kuo initially predicted that we’ll see AirPods 3 arrive in the first half of 2021.