Rumored AirPods Pro 2: Lossless and without stems?

No sooner are the AirPods 3 out than rumors of a second-generation AirPods Pro start popping up. It started at the beginning of December and this week a new wave of leaks has rolled in. There's talk of release date, design, lossless audio and a new search function.

The main leaker at the moment is Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. He has provided notes to investors, which were discovered by the portal Macrumors. These notes also included that the new Pro version of the AirPods should be so good that it will lead to strong demand.

Probably later this year

About a month ago, the first leaks came, announcing that the second AirPods Pro version would launch in 2022. They often mentioned the fourth quarter, which is between October and December.

The last version of the AirPods Pro came in October 2019, with the third version of the "regular" AirPods coming in October 2021, so it could well be that the new AirPods Pro 2 will also be unveiled in October again.

New design

Earlier rumors are reinforced that the second generation AirPods Pro will get a pretty new design. For instance, the toothbrush handles are said to disappear. The design is said to be in-ear again, just like the previous Pro model.

The design is reminiscent of the Beats Studio Buds headphones that belong to the Apple group. That the designs of the headphones are similar could be obvious.

"Lossless" via Bluetooth?

The leaker Ming-Chi Kuo seems to be quite sure that the new Pro version could transfer the played music lossless via Apple's Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC). However, it is unclear how this is supposed to work technically. Because Apple would have to establish a lossless Bluetooth connection. So far, only Sony has succeeded in doing this with the nearly lossless LDAC codec.

So far, all headphones and earphones from Apple are only equipped with the standard AAC codec. Even the big over-ear headphones, the AirPods Max, don't support Lossless Audio.

And a new search feature

Anyone who has ever lost or misplaced their headphones knows how annoying searching for the little case can be. According to leaker Kuo, Apple is looking to remedy this by building small speakers into the charging case. These then play a sound, so that the box is faster to find. The whole thing is supposed to be integrated into the Find My app feature, which has been used to locate Apple devices.

Whether all this is really true, and the analyst Ming-Chi Kuo is right, will be seen in the course of the year.