Well, Apple fans, it looks like your favorite gadget maker has one more surprise up its sleeve ahead of the holidays this year. Earlier this week, one of the most prolific leakers who covers mobile tech said that Apple “definitely” still plans to release next-generation AirPods this year. The leaker in question typically focuses his efforts on Samsung products, but he has been known to set his sights on Apple gear every now and then. His information is almost always accurate these days, so Apple fans had plenty to be excited about following his revelation.
If you were among the people who got excited when you first learned that Apple will launch its long-awaited second-generation true wireless earbuds before the end of the year, then we have even more good news for you on Wednesday: A new leak appears to confirm the news, leaving precious little doubt that Apple’s new cord-free “AirPods 2” earbuds will hit store shelves in the coming weeks.
For those of you who are somehow not familiar with Apple’s AirPods, we’ll bring you up to speed. They were first announced back in 2016 and after a few delays, they went on sale in mid-December of that year. Apple wasn’t the first company to release truly wireless earbuds, of course, but as is often the case, Apple’s AirPods were far more successful than any comparable product that had been released before them. In fact, It took Apple more than a year before supply of its AirPods headphones finally caught up with demand.
Apple unveiled a new wireless charging pad called AirPower last year in September 2017, and it showed off new AirPods with a wireless charging case along with it. Neither one of those products has materialized despite the fact that it’s been more than a year since they were announced. The AirPower charger has shown no signs of life since then, but it looks like we finally might be close to seeing new AirPods hit store shelves.
— Mr·White (@laobaiTD) November 14, 2018
Anonymous Twitter user “Mr. White” has been sharing photos of unreleased products and components for years now, but he still manages to fly under the radar most of the time. Despite the fact that he’s not as well-known as some other gadget leakers, his leaks almost always end up being genuine.
Early Wednesday morning, Mr. White posted two photos that show dozens of stacked AirPods cases. Though he posted no text along with the photos, his reputation suggested that the images show the unreleased second-generation version of Apple’s AirPods. Then, in a subsequent response, the leaker confirmed that this is the case when he told another Twitter user that the AirPods shown in the photos are “not available” yet.
Unfortunately, no other details are available at this time. We have no concrete details regarding what upgrades Apple’s new AirPods might offer. We also don’t know if the charging case they ship with will support wireless charging despite Apple having never released the AirPower charging mat it unveiled more than a year ago. All we know is that the second-generation AirPods are pictured in these leaked photos, and that they’re expected to launch before the end of the year.
Both leaked photos are embedded again below so you can take a closer look at them.
