The AirPods 3 were a no-show, but don’t count them out yet

While most of the products at the iPhone 13 event were predicted by early rumors, there was one prominent prediction that didn’t show up: the AirPods 3.

But don’t count it out just yet. A new report by DigiTimes Asia claims the AirPods 3 are not only coming — they are already in production.

According to DigiTimes, shipments from components suppliers and assemblers have been ‘proceeding slowly,’ but it still seems the headphones could very well show up within the next few months.

The new AirPods are expected to follow a design language more akin to the AirPods Pro, with shorter stems than the current basic AirPods and support for wireless charging. Some rumors have suggested they’ll support Spatial Audio — which would make sense, given Apple’s recent investment in this area — but they likely won’t feature noise canceling, due to their lower price point.

I know, I know, if we rumormongers got it wrong the first time, why trust that it’s coming soon at all? Well, we’ve been quite sure for a while that Apple would host two events this fall — one primarily about the iPhone and one primarily about new MacBooks. But there’s always been some uncertainty about how the other rumored devices would be distributed.

I thought one or both of the new iPads might’ve shown up alongside the MacBooks, for instance, rather than the new iPhones. The AirPods 3 seemed like a logical pairing with the new iPhones, but there’s no reason Apple couldn’t announce them the same day as the new Macs either.

There’s another possibility: Apple could reveal the AirPods 3 without the fanfare of a public event; it wouldn’t be the first time it’s done something of the sort. In fact, that’s exactly how it announced the AirPods Pro — via a boring old press release.

In any case, my money is still on the AirPods 3 showing up by the end of the year. I’ll be ready for the hate mail if I’m wrong.