According to a report by Taiwanese publication DigiTimes, the AirPods Pro 2 may only be out a few months after its release – maybe even as early as April.
Although the report focuses primarily on Apple’s flash provider Winbond, it does appear that the second-generation AirPods Pro ‘will be launched later in the first half of this year’.
It’s much faster than previous leaks and rumors suggested, so if you’re an iOS user looking for a new headset, you may not have to splash $ 549 on the AirPods Max yet.
DigiTimes has previously claimed that the as yet unannounced AirPods 3 will also be launched in the first half of 2021. But this is the first indication that the higher AirPods Pro 2 may arrive within the same time frame.
“Winbond is also expected to be one of the NOR flash providers for Apple’s next-generation AirPods Pro, which will be launched later in the first half of this year,” a source told DigiTimes. “The Taiwan-based chipmaker will use its NOR flash production lines with almost full capacity utilization for a period of six months.”
Not only that, but the Japanese publication MacOtakara claims that we could see the AirPods Pro 2 already in April.
Bloomberg previously reported that the AirPods Pro 2 will target the second half of 2021, not the first. And productive tipster LeaksApplePro tweeted: “expect them to release in Q4 2021 or Q1 2022.”
Nevertheless, this latest report cites sources that were apparently involved in Apple’s manufacturing process for flash memory, that a new pair of Apple’s top wireless earbuds will arrive much sooner. Since the original AirPods Pro is now more than a year old, and because they know Apple is prone to annual updates, it feels like a follow-up is overdue. An outreach date in the spring or early summer will therefore not be outrageous.
The recent release of major competing earphones, such as the Bose QuietComfort Earplugs and the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro, could also push Apple to unveil the new AirPods Pro 2 sooner rather than later.
We have to wait for an official announcement anyway to see what Apple is really planning. The AirPods Pro is still one of the best headphones you can buy, so the AirPods Pro 2 is hopefully worth the wait.