Smart & Connected Life Headphones & Ear Buds New Apple AirPods 3 and Pro 2: Price, Release Date, Specs, News, and Rumors New AirPods are on the horizon. Here's everything we know so far by S.E. Slack Strategy Director, Lifewire.com S.E. Slack has 30+ years' experience writing about technology. She has authored 12 books, thousands of articles, and worked for IBM and Microsoft. our editorial process LinkedIn S.E. Slack Updated on November 03, 2020 Headphones & Ear Buds Working From Home Headphones & Ear Buds Smart Home Smart Watches & Wearables Travel Tech Connected Car Tech iPods & MP3 Players Tweet Share Email Apple's always got a few more tricks up its sleeve and its wildly popular AirPods are no exception. It's all conjecture at this point but here's what we know. Start saving your pennies! When Will AirPods 3 or AirPods Pro 2 Be Released? Everything's still in the rumor stage but the industry is circling in on Spring of 2021 for AirPods 3 and Fall 2021 for AirPods Pro 2. Apple's November 2020 event could be when new AirPods come out but that's a long shot: We expect the company to be more focused on announcing a completely new over-the-ear headphone product called AirPods Studio and the ARM Mac. Finally, Ming-Chi Kuo, a respected and more-often-than-not on-target Apple analyst, says the third generation AirPods are likely to enter mass-production in the first half of 2021. Our Bet for a Release Date We're with Ming-Chi Kuo. Our gut says not to look for Apple AirPods 3 or Apple AirPods Pro 2 before the 2020 holidays. Instead, we think the third-gen version will appear in Spring 2021 with the Pro version following in the Fall. Price: How Much are the New AirPods? That, too, is up for debate. Currently, AirPods are priced at $159 and AirPods Pro sell for $249. If there are multiple versions of AirPods 3, expect a similar price range with the base model going for around $150 with consumers paying an extra $50 or so for the wireless charging case. Some people think the AirPods 3 will be a newer version of the the Pro, however, which would indicate they'll be priced on the higher end of the range and called AirPods Pro 2. It's possible Apple will allow consumers to purchase the new AirPods with an interest-free payment plan via its Apple Card credit card like you can with the current AirPods lineup. Are Pre-Orders Available for the New AirPods? Nope. That won't happen until Apple makes an official announcement that a new version even exists, so keep an eye on the Apple event on November 10, 2020 and maybe one on March 16, 2021. The usual approach is to announce the new product, then make it quickly available for pre-order, and actually get the product out on the market not long after. The Latest News about Apple AirPods You can get more Smart & Connected Life news from Lifewire on all kinds of topics; here are some other rumors about Apple's update to its AirPods product line. Apple Plans Smaller AirPods Pro, Revamped Entry-Level Model Apple Airpods Pro 2 Will Cause New Problems For Google, Samsung Go Hands-Free With These Top AirPod Commands Does the iPhone 12 Come With AirPods? Rumors About the New Features Why introduce a new product if it's just like the old one? Apple's no slouch at the marketing game; they'll definitely offer new features designed to entire current AirPods users to trade up. Bloomberg is reporting that the AirPods Pro 2 will look more similar in design to Amazon Echo Bud and Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus. More interesting: Check out the U.S. Patent Office filing from Apple involving the gathering of orientation information. The patent is described as 'Wireless ear bud system with pose detection.' Sounds like Apple is angling for a bigger share of the health and fitness market with the next round of AirPods. Here's what else we've heard: Apple AirPods 3 Features Nobody's talking about sweat or water resistance so don't expect the lower end of the product line to sport either of those features. However, there could be a few features like this that would make the upgrade to the new version worth it. Shorter stems (so your AirPods won't be so obvious on all those Zoom calls.)A look and feel similar to the current AirPods Pro.Replaceable rubber pads.Improved battery life. According to Teknoliyo, you shouldn't look for noise cancelling features in this version. Bummer. Apple AirPods Pro 2 Features If you're going to drop several hundred dollars on a pair on tiny earbuds, they'd better be worth every penny. From what we hear, AirPods Prod 2 are going to deliver the following: No stems at all and a more rounded design.Improved battery life.Gyroscopes and accelerometers to measure body orientation and movement. (This tracks with the advent of Apple Fitness+.)Interchangeable ear tips. AirPods 3 Specs and Hardware Details The internal workings of the new AirPods should be improved, too. Expect: A new chip (the H2) for both models.Upgraded battery and charging. Hey, bookmark this page! We monitor Apple news and rumors daily and update this article as we find anything worth sharing.