Apple AirPods 3 in Production, Expected to Launch in October: Report

Apple AirPods 3 have entered production and the units have also started to ship from suppliers to Apple, says a new report. It adds that the initial production of the rumoured true wireless stereo (TWS) earphones from Apple has been low and could be the reason why we didn't see them along with the iPhone 13 series at Apple's California Streaming event on September 14. It is reported that Apple may launch the second-generation AirPods Pro along with the AirPods 3 at a launch event next month.

DigiTimes reports that AirPods 3 TWS earphones have entered production. As mentioned, the report also states that Apple has started receiving the units that have been produced and these may come to market soon. The rumoured AirPods (3rd generation) are said to come with a new chipset and support Apple Music Lossless Audio. The report also speculates a gain in battery life over AirPods (2nd generation).

Apple has received enough units of the AirPods 3 and it may launch the TWS earphones later this year, says the report. It adds that these may be launched during an event in October along with the second generation of the AirPods Pro. The launch event next month is also said to unveil new M1X chipset-powered Mac devices.

An earlier report suggested that Apple may launch the AirPods 3 during the 'California Streaming' event earlier this week. Market Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has twice predicted that the upcoming TWS earphones will either be priced higher than the AirPods 2 or will have the same price as its predecessor. In both scenarios, Kuo states that Apple will continue selling both earphones simultaneously, as the design of the AirPods 3 is speculated to be similar to the AirPods Pro — as predicted by Mark Gurman of Bloomberg in August.