apple: Apple AirPods 3 may launch on May 18 – Times of India

Tech giant Apple may unveil the next AirPods on May 18, as per the claims of YouTuber Luke Mani, reported by AppleTrack. According to the claims, there won’t be an online event for the launch of the new AirPods–rumoured to be called the AirPods 3– but the launch will be announced via a press release. There are high chances of the date of launch being May 18 as it also happens to be the day Google is going to hold its I/O conference, which would be a smart move from Apple to steal Google’s thunder for the day.
There are rumours of Apple introducing the Hi-Fi tier for its music subscription service on the same day and with that, the launch of the next AirPods makes more sense.
The rumoured AirPods 3 are expected to come with shorter stems than their predecessor, which would make them lighter. Also, the charging case of the true wireless earbuds is going to have a revamped look and there will be replaceable ear tips too, as per the leaks. It also claimed that the next-generation AirPods will feature Active Noise Cancellation, something new for the base variants in the AirPods lineup. The 2019 AirPods’ passive noise cancellation has worked well in filtering the ambient noise, so if the new ones come with ANC, you could expect the pricing to shoot up too.
Tech analyst Ming-Chi Kuo had earlier claimed that Apple doesn’t have plans to send the next-gen AirPods for production until Q3 2021.Kuo also predicted that Apple may see a decline in headphone shipments this year due to the rise in competition in the category. He added that the tech giant may also plan not to shelve selling the second-gen AirPods when the new AirPods arrive.