Apple AirPods Pro Lite facing further delays (report)

Apple AirPods Pro
(Image credit: Future)

With the launch of the budget-priced iPhone SE, it seemed like the perfect time for Apple to deliver the rumored AirPods Pro Lite next month. According to a new report, that launch may now be delayed.

The latest report is based on sources from within the supply chain indicating that Apple may need to push the release of the new headphones into the second half of the year or even to 2021 (via PhoneArena).

Just this week, we had additional confirmation that new AirPods were set to arrive next month, which further clouds this mystery. Some of the confusion could be caused by multiple new AirPods on the way, both these AirPods Pro Lite along with a revision of the standard AirPods -- or the AirPods Gen 3. 

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It's unclear what distinction will exist between these two save for the design, as most have suggested that the AirPods Pro Lite will drop the noise cancellation and transparency features of the AirPods Pro in order to bring the price down. 

This also calls into question where the AirPods Pro Lite could fall in terms of pricing. Currently, the standard AirPods are either $159 or $199 depending on whether you want the wireless charging case, and the AirPods Pro sit at $249. Clearly there isn't much room to fit the AirPods Pro Lite between the two.

It's possible that we will see the standard AirPods, which are frequently on sale, get an official price drop of $20 to $30 to clear out space for the AirPods Pro Lite.

We were hoping to finally have the answer to all of these questions next month, but it appears we might be in for a much longer wait.

Sean Riley

Sean Riley has been covering tech professionally for over a decade now. Most of that time was as a freelancer covering varied topics including phones, wearables, tablets, smart home devices, laptops, AR, VR, mobile payments, fintech, and more.  Sean is the resident mobile expert at Laptop Mag, specializing in phones and wearables, you'll find plenty of news, reviews, how-to, and opinion pieces on these subjects from him here. But Laptop Mag has also proven a perfect fit for that broad range of interests with reviews and news on the latest laptops, VR games, and computer accessories along with coverage on everything from NFTs to cybersecurity and more.