Apple’s first beta for iOS 12.2 contains strong evidence that we’re nearing an AirPods hardware refresh. As reported by 9to5Mac, the beta includes a setup interface for “Hey Siri” that mentions hands-free voice commands on AirPods — a feature that isn’t available with the current, first-generation pair of truly wireless earbuds.
No other leaks about new AirPods have (yet) been uncovered in the iOS beta released earlier today. The original AirPods hit shelves over two years ago.
Bloomberg also said a “high-end” version of AirPods with noise cancelation, water resistance, and extended wireless range are under development and planned for a 2019 debut. Yesterday, DigiTimes claimed that Apple will launch second-generation AirPods with health-monitoring features in the first half of this year. (Health-tracking functionality was also mentioned in Bloomberg’s report as something Apple is considering for the earbuds.)
Many folks also noted that Apple’s September event kicked off with a video where someone said “Hey Siri” while donning AirPods, but who knows. Maybe she just yelled loud enough for the phone to pick it up.
There’s no telling when iOS 12.2 will be rolled out to consumers, unfortunately, so it’s hard to predict when the new AirPods might show up. Each iOS update usually goes through several beta revisions before a wide public release, so it could be a month or two if not longer.
Also, it’s possible that this mention of AirPods and “Hey Siri” could disappear in a future release — similar to the way Apple removed AirPlay 2 and Group FaceTime from prior iOS betas until they were fully ready in later updates.
