What you need to know
- Apple may bundle AirPods with 2020 iPhones.
- The report comes via the hit-and-miss DigiTimes.
- Apple bundles EarPods with iPhones currently.
Apple may be getting ready to bundle AirPods in with 2020 iPhones according to a new report. New iPhones currently ship with wired EarPods in the box.
The report from DigiTimes (via MacRumors) says that Apple – and other smartphone makers including Samsung – wants to be able to bundle "TWS" earbyds starting next year. "TWS" stands for "truly wireless streo" and includes AirPods and AirPods Pro. It's highly unlikely that the newly announced and costly AirPods Pro would be bundled with iPhones, which leaves AirPods.
However, as always, it's worth remembering that this is the reliably unreliable DigiTimes. Whether this actually comes to fruition is pretty much a toss of a coin at this point. But it's definitely something that would be well received, even if it's only the case with the high-end iPhone 12 Pro. It's a similar situation with the 18W USB-C charger right now; it only ships with iPhone 11 Pro with iPhone 11 making do with a standard 5W part.
Unfortunately, I'm struggling to see why Apple would do this. It sells a ton of AirPods, and cutting into that market seems like a bad idea. But maybe that's why Tim Cook is running Apple instead of me.
Apple is likely to announce iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max in September of next year. If AirPods are indeed shipping with at least one of those phones I'd expect us to get more information about it coser to the time.
