New Apple AirPods (2023): Everything We Expect

AirPods have proven to be a massive success for Apple ever since their introduction in 2016. The earbuds have become synonymous with wireless audio and have changed how people listen to music and podcasts. These products have also proven to be a massive commercial success for Apple, generating massive amounts of revenue for the company. Given their relatively lower pricing compared to the rest of the products in Apple's lineup, the AirPods have become Apple's best-selling product of all time and accounted for over 50% of the global market share for wireless earbuds in 2022.

Apple has regularly updated the AirPods lineup since the first model was released in 2016. The models released so far include the 1st generation Apple AirPods in 2016, the 2nd gen Apple AirPods in 2019, and the 3rd gen Apple AirPods in 2021. In 2019, the company also launched a higher-priced variant of the AirPods called the AirPods Pro. Three years later, in 2022, the second-generation AirPods Pro arrived and brought with it a couple of updates.

In addition to these models, in 2020, the company also came up with its first-ever headphones with an over-ear design. This premium product from Apple was called the AirPods Max and competed against the likes of the Sony WH-1000X and Bose QC series of premium noise-canceling headphones. Given the importance of the AirPods series, Apple is expected to release new models of AirPods in 2023, possibly with several improvements, including better sound quality, longer battery life, and active noise cancellation.

Apple's last AirPods product launch was in September 2022 — less than a year ago — when it launched the second-gen AirPods Pro. Similarly, the company's entry-level model — the standard AirPods — last received an update in October 2021, less than two years ago. It is, therefore, safe to assume that both these products aren't in desperate need of an update in 2023. That leaves us with the AirPods Max, which has not seen an update since December 2020. It is quite possible that Apple is working on releasing an upgraded version of the AirPods Max this year with several new updates. However, there have been no such indications from the company so far.

Rumors of a refreshed AirPods Max, however, have been part of the news cycle since 2022, with noted tech journalist Mark Gurman talking about a possible launch by mid-2022. That, however, did not happen, and nearly a year later, we still have no signs of an updated AirPods Max. In January 2023, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo tweeted that Apple could delay the launch of an updated AirPods Max to 2024, which, if true, would make it the longest gap between two successive generations for any AirPods product so far.

If the Apple AirPods Max (2nd Generation) does arrive in 2023 or 2024, there's also been calls for Apple to drop its price tag to saner levels. Gurman has also indicated that the product could feature minor updates, including new color options and possible support for lossless audio.

With no clear indication that Apple may update the AirPods Max in 2023 and the rest of the AirPods lineup being too new to receive an update, analysts have turned their attention to possible new variants of AirPods. The one that garnered the most attention was the Apple AirPods Lite. First reported by analyst Jeff Pu in January 2023, this 'Lite' variant of the standard AirPods is supposedly designed to replace the standard AirPods as the most affordable offering in Apple's lineup.

A couple of days later, Min-Chi Kuo endorsed Pu's analysis and tweeted about the possibility of Apple coming up with the AirPods Lite. Kuo, however, also added that Apple is not too keen on releasing this affordable AirPods model in 2023 and could push its launch to the second half of 2024 or early 2025. Kuo also hinted that Apple might price the AirPods Lite below the $99 mark, helping it garner an even broader swathe of the audio accessory market.

Some have suggested that Apple may go with the AirPods SE naming scheme for this affordable variant of the AirPods.

While we await the arrival of the next-gen AirPods, speculation is already rife on the new features Apple could bring to the refreshed lineup. One of the most sought-after features and an area of improvement for Apple would be to get the ability to playback Apple's hi-res lossless audio format, which the company introduced in 2021.

Only a handful of really expensive, audiophile-grade headphones have this capability today. And while there is only a tiny possibility of Apple bringing this feature to its next-generation AirPods Max, it will be interesting to see how much of an impact it would have on the pricing of an already expensive piece of audio hardware. This may also require Apple to come up with its own codec.

It is also pertinent to note that the AirPods Max does support high-quality audio playback in the wired mode, but Apple isn't calling it lossless because of an intermediary analog-digital-analog conversion process which isn't technically "lossless" in the true sense.

Another likely update the AirPods lineup may get in 2023 and beyond is the probability of a complete switchover to USB-C across the board — including the charging cases — many of which still use the lightning port. There have also been talks of Apple incorporating a temperature sensor on the AirPods, given the difficulties associated with taking accurate core body temperatures using smartwatches. In addition to a new temperature sensor, there is also talk of Apple incorporating a "hearing sense evaluator" to determine how well a person can hear.