Apple’s AirPods Pro are pretty great, but they have a pretty annoying trait which I’m reminded of every time the earbuds need charging: the case features Apple’s proprietary Lightning port, instead of the near-ubiquitous USB-C port.
That might change fairly soon. According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo(Opens in a new tab), Apple will launch a new version of AirPods Pro with a USB-C port in either the second or the third quarter of 2023.
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Kuo was replying to a tweet from Twitter user @aaronp613(Opens in a new tab), a developer who spotted references to new AirPods models in Apple’s iOS 16.4 software, which is more proof that the new AirPods Pro may be coming soon.
Kuo also said that Apple “appears to have no plans” to launch USB-C versions of its “regular” AirPods, which also come with a Lightning port.
The AirPods were originally launched in 2016, and Apple has refreshed them twice, in 2019 and 2021. It would make sense to launch a new version this year; in fact, more so than the AirPods Pro, which were upgraded fairly recently. The AirPods Pro were originally launched in 2019, and an improved version was released in 2022. It’s unclear whether Apple plans to add more features to the updated version, or whether the USB-C port will be the only thing that’s new.
