Apple's AirPods 3 will reportedly be announced during the iPhone 13 event

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Airpods 3 Leak Images
Airpods 3 Leak Images (Image credit: UnclePan)

What you need to know

  • Apple's AirPods 3 will reportedly be announced during the iPhone 13 event.
  • Apple is expected to announce iPhone 13 during an event in September.

Apple will reportedly announce its newly redesigned AirPods during the same event that will see iPhone 13 be announced. If all goes according to plan, that means we will see AirPods 3 arrive in September.

Reportedly coming with a new external design similar to the current AirPods Pro, the new AirPods 3 is set to see production ramp up in the final quarter of the year according to a new DigiTimes report.

The report notes that some parts that will find a home inside new AirPods are already shipping in small quantities, but that larger volumes will be expected within the next few months. That all points to a launch before the end of the year, with DigiTimes and its sources of the belief that the iPhone 13 event is the likely target announcement window.

Shipments of flexible PCBs (FPCB) and SiP modules for use in the next-generation AirPods have kicked off in small volumes, and will be scaled up between late third-quarter and fourth-quarter 2021, according to industry sources at the upstream supply chain of the AirPods. The sources believe the new AirPods will have a good chance to be debuted at Apple's product launch in the second half of the year.

The new AirPods are expected to be functionally similar to the existing model, despite looking more like AirPods Pro. There has been no word on pricing so far, but I doubt the new earbuds will be cheaper than the AirPods deals that are doing the rounds right now.

Apple hasn't refreshed the AirPods earbuds since 2019, and even then it was a relatively minor one. This next refresh looks set to be much more significant. Next, it's the AirPods Pro's turn!

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.