The next AirPods might arrive later than you think. Here’s what we know.

Apple might be focusing its efforts on the iPhone thanks to the current tariff situation, but it does have other popular devices that it's working to improve upon with newer versions.

One of its most popular lines of devices is the AirPods. Last year, Apple sold more than $18 billion in AirPods, and it appears a new version could be coming next year.

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo tweeted on Sunday about the next iteration of the AirPods. He predicts a new version won't be coming until sometime next year.

"AirPods may not see significant updates until 2026 (aligning with my earlier prediction that IR camera-equipped AirPods would enter mass production in 2026)," Kuo wrote.

The addition of cameras to the earbuds would be used for gathering data for AI. Visual info picked up by the cameras would give an AI more details about the environment, which could be used for some features although no details have surfaced about what those features could be.

Earlier in the week, a string of code was discovered in an Apple update that is being viewed as a leak of the release of the AirPods Pro 3, as reported by 9to5Mac. The snippet of code referencing a task changed from saying "This task requires Apple AirPods Pro 2nd Generation" to "This task requires Apple AirPods Pro 2 or later." This change doesn't mean a new version of the earbuds is right around the corner, but it does hint that they're being worked on.

Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about new versions of the AirPods.

The AirPods already have some interesting changes coming thanks to AI. Apple plans on using the earbuds to incorporate new health features such as checking a user's temperature, heart-rate monitoring, and other biometric data. The company also wants to bring live translation to the AirPods later this year. And just last year, Apple added a hearing aid feature to the earbuds as well.

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What's next for AirPods Max?

The AirPods weren't the only device Kuo mentioned in his tweet. He also said a new version of the AirPods Max would also be coming.

"A lighter version of the AirPods Max is expected to enter mass production in 2027," he wrote.

The current iteration of the AirPods Max came out in 2020 with only a few changes made since then such as going from Lightning to USB-C, slight changes to the build, and more colors.

Back in 2023, Kuo predicted that the AirPods Max 2 would come out in 2025. That ended up not being the case, although it's unclear what might have caused this two-year delay by Apple.

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