Apple’s next-gen AirPods could arrive in the first half of this year and feature ‘health monitoring functions’, as reported by Digitimes (via 9to5Mac).
The rather vague suggestion, mentioned in a larger report on wearable growth for 2019, doesn’t cite any sources or shed light on any other product details, though.
Still, while we’ll take the rumour with a pinch of salt then, it has us hopeful that the AirPods 2 will a) arrive sooner rather than later this year, and b) integrate an interesting activity-based tracking feature or two.
We do wonder where Apple could go here. Given the minute size of the originals (and their battery), it’s unlikely a heart-rate monitor would be included. And as the Apple Watch features an accelerator for identifying body movement, integrating the same functionality into the AirPods would arguably be pointless, too - or at least, now, anti-climatic.
So perhaps the next AirPods will arrive alongside Apple’s long-awaited AirPower charging mat.
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