At least seven Apple suppliers have reportedly begun shipping circuit boards for upcoming Apple products, including the third-generation AirPods, which are expected to be released later this year.
We have already read countless rumors about an update to the AirPods. Now the Taiwanese news site DigiTimes is reporting on new movements within the supply chain. In the paid report is it [called:
Suppliers such as Semco, LG Innotek, Kinsus, Unimicron, Nan Ya, Zhen Ding and AT&S have all started their BT substrate shipments for Apple's next-generation products, including the Apple Watch, AirPods and iPhone, all of which use SiP modules.
AirPods 3: Active noise cancellation not expected
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and Debby Wu previously reported that the third-generation AirPods will arrive later in 2021 with a similar design to the AirPods Pro, including shorter stems. This would be the first update to the standard AirPods since March 2019, when the second-generation pair launched with the H1 chip for hands-free "Hey Siri" functionality and up to 50 percent more talk time than the original AirPods. Analysts expect the new AirPods 3 to be priced at the same level as their predecessors. It's likely that the third-generation AirPods will lack some higher-end features, such as active noise cancellation, leaving the feature reserved for the Pro version. As for the AirPods Pro, the second generation with fitness tracking is expected to arrive next year. These could look similar to the new Beats Studio Buds. (Photo by Unsplash / Dagny Reese)