After the Airpods: are Apple bringing out new headphones?
Apple oracle Ming Chi Kuo has announced the arrival of an Apple headset. A journalist has now found 14 symbols in the code of the iOS operating system that support the announcement. Are these the new Earpods? The leak also announced physical search aids.
The code for the next iPhone operating system, iOS 14, shows what Apple will release in the future: a headset. Maybe. Maybe the two operating system icons are just illustrations, if it weren't for an announcement from Apple's top oracle, Ming Chi Kuo.
Zac Hall](https://9to5mac.com/2020/03/09/airpods-headphones-ios-14/), editor of 9to5Mac magazine, has examined Apple's iOS 14 operating system beta closely and claims to have discovered that Apple is working on headphones. Because there are two icons showing a pair of over-ear headphones.
Source: Zac Hall/9to5Mac
These two pixelated icons are, according to the Apple rumour mill, proof that Apple is working on headphones. A bit of a partner product to the Airpods.
"Earpods" as a design study... or rather Beats?
The two icons above don't say much. A close look at the headphones shows something that roughly corresponds to the following shapes. But: Ming Chi Kuo is usually right when he announces something. His timetable isn't always precise, but when he says "this and that will come", he's usually right.
These outlines don't really match Apple's visual language. I redrew these sketches in Illustrator, but could only work with a LowRes model. Presumably the top end of the earpiece is shaped differently from the bottom end. The icons are only published in a resolution of 164×189 pixels. With a JPG filter and further processing by 9to5Mac, a generic drawing of a headset can be seen at the end, which at best gives an idea of the shape.
But: the "Earpods" are reminiscent of the visual language of Beats by Dr Dre headphones. Apple bought the brand in 2014 for $3.2 billion. The Beats Solo 3 look particularly like the icon.
Much ado about nothing?
The 9to5Mac report goes into detail, describing the possible processors and noise reduction technologies. And that's while the 164×189 pixels or so are known from beta code. The question arises as to why 9to5Mac and digitec.ch go to such lengths to analyse headphones.
The reason is called Ming Chi Kuo. The Chinese man is considered the best Apple oracle in the world. He himself works as an analyst for financial group TF International Securities and apparently has contacts in Apple's supply chain. No one can explain why this man has been right so often in his announcements. Apple's parent company itself is unlikely to be leaking data. That leaves only the supply chain. Somewhere, Ming Chi Kuo knows someone or several people who provide him with information.
He usually publishes his announcements in newsletters that are sent to investors. A few weeks ago, he not only announced high-end headphones, but also the Apple Tag. This is an object that you can clip to your keyring or attach to another object, then locate via iPhone and GPS. So it's the solution to the "Where are my keys?" problem, and a direct competitor to items like the Tile. A wireless charger for iPhones is also said to be in the pipeline.
Ming Chi Kuo is not revealing where he gets his information.
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