Apple does its best so that the upcoming product is launching a secret, but it is not always easy. The supply chains must be informed, the regulatory database inputs must be filed, the software for other products must be updated to work with the new ones. There are many clues to spot analysts in the eyes of the eagle.
The latest example of this concerns an unprecedented Apple Audio product which seems to be on the verge of launch. We do not yet know what it is, but there is a decent chance that it is the long -awaited pro 3 airpods.
According to Macrumors, Apple has updated its code base this week “with a digital reference to a new audio product”. This digital reference is a Bluetooth identifier used to allow wireless headphones to synchronize with other devices.
The Apple list of these identifiers includes all its current audio devices and, from this week, a mysterious additional entry. The new ID, 8239, does not apply to any known AirPods or Beats Devices, so it almost certainly means that Apple is about to start something new.
Apple sells three types of AirPods: standard models, pro AirPods and Max AirPods. Standard airpods have been updated relatively recently, in September 2024, it is unlikely that we will be about to get another set. It could be a new set of AirPods Max, because they came out in 2020 and we are still waiting for the second generation, but again, Apple technically updated them last September to add USB-C and few others. This leaves AirPods Pro, whose second generation model was released in September 2022 and is therefore ripe for an update.
(You can read the coming versions of Apple wireless headphones in our new AirPods guide.)
But this is not the only possibility. Apple also has the Beats brand, and we could be about to get a new product from this line. It could even launch a new set of AirPods that we have never seen before. In other words, look at this space, because something interesting is about to happen.
