AirPods Pro Now 1000 Days Old: What to Expect From Next Model - MacRumors

The AirPods Pro launched 1,000 days ago today and are the oldest current-generation Apple device still on sale.

Apple announced the AirPods Pro on Monday, October 28, 2019. The earbuds went on sale immediately and orders started arriving to customers on Thursday, October 31.

Apple went on to release the AirPods Max in December 2020 and the third-generation AirPods in October 2021. After the discontinuation of the iPod touch earlier this year, which itself is 1,153 days old today, the ‌AirPods Pro‌ are the oldest current-generation Apple device still on sale, followed by the 2019 Mac Pro, which is 957 days old today.

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, and Taiwanese industry publication DigiTimes have repeatedly said that the ‌AirPods Pro‌ 2 will launch in the second-half of 2022, so the new model is now likely just a matter of months away. According to reports from a range of sources, the ‌AirPods Pro‌ 2 are expected to feature:

It has also been suggested that the ‌AirPods Pro‌ 2 will feature an updated chip, self-adaptive noise cancellation capabilities, heart rate and temperature sensors, hearing aid capabilities, and a USB-C port, but Ming-Chi Kuo and Mark Gurman have cast doubt over this information.

It seems likely that the ‌AirPods Pro‌ 2's sound-emitting charging case will integrate into the Find My app, similar to how users can currently emit a sound from their individual AirPods inside the case to help find them. This lines up with alleged leaked photos of the next-generation AirPods Pro, which showed a charging case with speaker holes to emit a sound for location tracking, allowing the earbuds and the case to be located separately.

Support for Lossless audio is among the biggest upgrades expected for the ‌AirPods Pro‌ 2 and could have ramifications for the AirPods lineup in the future. All of Apple's current AirPods products, including the third-generation AirPods, ‌AirPods Pro‌, and ‌AirPods Max‌, do not support Lossless audio.

This is because AirPods play audio via Bluetooth, limiting them to the AAC codec. Higher quality Apple Lossless Audio Codec files may need to be streamed to AirPods directly to circumvent Bluetooth and enable a Lossless listening experience, but it is possible that Apple could develop an alternative solution to bypass the current limits of Bluetooth.

Kuo has narrowed down the launch of the ‌AirPods Pro‌ 2 to the fourth quarter of 2022, which runs from October through December of the year. This means the ‌AirPods Pro‌ 2 could arrive around three years after their predecessors. For more information, see our detailed AirPods Pro 2 guide.

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The OnePlus 10T won't have a mute switch — here's why - The Verge

The OnePlus 10T isn’t due to launch until August 3rd, but it wouldn’t be a OnePlus phone if the company didn’t reveal a few details early. Today, we’re getting a look at the device’s exterior design, which reveals a couple of interesting (and, depending on your viewpoint, potentially disappointing) changes compared to its predecessor. Although the 10T’s overall design is similar to that of the OnePlus 10 Pro, there’s no alert / mute slider this time, nor is there any sign of the Hasselblad branded-camera system found on recent OnePlus flagships.

The alert slider has been a staple of OnePlus’ flagship phones for years, offering a quick and easy way to put its phones into silent and vibrate modes without having to tap through any onscreen menus. In an email interview with The Verge, OnePlus chief designer Hope Liu said that ditching the slider was necessary for the 10T to have enough internal space for other components needed for “high wattage charging, a large battery capacity, and better antenna signal.”

For example, to offer the kinds of fast charging speeds that OnePlus is targeting with the 10T (it’s yet to announce the spec officially, but leaks suggest that the OnePlus 10R’s 150W fast charging could make an appearance), Liu says OnePlus had to include two “charging pumps” inside the 10T, compared to just one for the 80W fast charging-compatible OnePlus 10 Pro. The company also prioritized an antenna system that includes 15 separate antennas inside the OnePlus 10T, which it says improves signal when holding the phone horizontally — a benefit when playing games online.

“While the alert slider appears to be a very small component, it actually has a relatively large impact on the device’s motherboard area — taking up 30 mm²,” Liu says. “To ensure the OnePlus 10T delivers in the areas we know our users value most... while retaining the alert slider, we would have had to stack the device’s motherboard, which would have made the device thicker.” Removing the slider was the compromise OnePlus decided to make.

Another difference compared to the 10 Pro is the lack of a Hasselblad-branded camera system — though, given the minimal impact it’s had on OnePlus’ other phones, we’re not too concerned about the omission here. OnePlus’ partnership with the camera company kicked off with last year’s OnePlus 9 Pro and mainly involved tuning the colors from the camera. This year, it added new features like support for 12-bit RAW photographs with this year’s phone. They’re neat additions but not mainstream essentials.

When I ask Liu why the Hasselblad branding had gone, he tells me it’s because OnePlus “wanted to offer an ultimate performance flagship smartphone at the device’s chosen price point,” which makes it sound like it was a necessary compromise to reach the phone’s (as yet unannounced) price tag. But Liu confirms that the 10T’s main camera will use a 50-megapixel Sony IMX766 sensor (which is technically higher resolution than the 48-megapixel main camera from the 10 Pro) and will support shooting in 10-bit color, as well as “improved HDR photography” and OnePlus’ night photography mode.

Other features Liu is willing to confirm include a 6.7-inch display for the 10T. Resolution and refresh rate have yet to be announced, but from the images, this appears to be a flat display rather than one that curves around the edges of the device. Liu also says the phone will be available in a matte black color as well as a glossy green. OnePlus previously said the phone will be powered by a Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 processor.

That’s all Liu is willing to confirm for now. For a full announcement, we’re going to have to wait for the OnePlus 10T’s official launch on August 3rd at 10AM ET.

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