Apple’s next-gen Airpods will be very different from what we’ve seen or experienced till now, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman believes so. In his weekly newsletter this time, Gurman has claimed that Apple Airpods and AirPods Pro will come with several ear-health and body-temperature features alongside the cheaper models and switch a to type-C charging ports.
Gurman, who’s made similar claims before, this time writes that AirPods will be a key to Apple’s Vision Pro headset access. To begin with, Apple will incorporate a feature that will help detect hearing issues in the wearer. As part of the feature, the device will play different tunes to help AirPods asses how well a person can hear. This will save users from downloading third-party apps like Mimi, BeatSense and likewise other apps that help screen hearing issues in people.
Apple is also planning on to add sensors to the AirPods to help detect body temperatures via user’s ear canal. Notably, the data collected by this means is more reliable than the we get from devices worn on wrist like the Apple Watch series 8 and Ultra models.
Additionally, Apple is also planning to switch to USB Type-C charging for AirPods, a change which is expected to come sooner than the other above-mentioned leaps AirPods is set to make in the future. Apple may also cut down the prices of its cheapest AirPods.
ALSO READ l Apple to bring ear health features to AirPods in future, report says
While these new features sound exciting, the rumours of Apple working on ear-health features for AirPods have long been around. The patents and applications from past have showed that Apple is wanting to add biometric sensing capabilities. One of the patent filings explains that Apple could use a photoplethysmogram (PPG) sensor to track the heart rate and blood flow in the ear’s skin, a technology used in Apple Watch. PPG’s are used to monitor user’s heart rate by beaming light on the adjoining skin and measuring variations in reflectivity. There’s also mentions of technologies like an electrocardiogram sensor, temperature sensor, impedance cardiography, galvanic skin response, and VO2 sensing in the patent documents.
Follow FE Tech Bytes on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook.
