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The plot thickens. Last week, KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple has been working on over-the-ear headphones in addition to new AirPods. Today, Bloomberg confirms this information and adds that these new headphones could also feature noise-canceling capabilities.
KGI said that this new product should be available at some point in Q4 2018, just in time for the holiday season. But Bloomberg thinks that Apple could push back the release date.
The AirPods have been a success, and Apple now wants to capitalize on this hit to create an entire product line. Those headphones should sound better than tiny AirPods, but they should also be more expensive — AirPods currently cost $159.
It’s unclear what is going to happen to Beats-branded headphones. Apple acquired Beats Electronics back in 2014. The company wanted to get a head start on building a music streaming service. Beats Music eventually became Apple Music.
But it doesn’t mean that Apple stopped selling Beats headphones altogether. In particular, the company announced some Beats-branded headphones with Apple’s W1 wireless chip. Those headphones use the same wireless chip as the one that you can find in the AirPods.
So it’s going to be interesting to see if Apple’s headphones feature a completely new design or are just a rebranding of Beats headphones.
