Apple’s over-ear headphones could be launching soon

Apple could release a new pair of over-ear headphones soon, according to placeholder listings that have reportedly been appearing in Target’s product database. The listings, which were reported by YouTuber Jon Prosser, show a product called the “Apple AirPods (X Generation),” with a price of $399. Prosser notes that there are three SKUs listed for the product, which suggests it could be available in three different colors. Over the past couple of years there have been numerous reports that the company is working on a pair of Apple-branded over-ear headphones.

In early 2018, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and Bloomberg both reported that the headphones were due to release before the end of 2018, but in June Bloomberg subsequently reported that they’d been delayed following “development challenges. ” Most recently, Kuo predicted last month that Apple would release a pair of high-end Bluetooth headphones in the first half of 2020. Multiple Target employees have started reaching out to me about this Showing up in their systems and on UPC scanners is this mysterious “Apple AirPods (X Generation)” listing, priced at $399. Potentially Apple’s over-ear “StudioPods” headphones.

Launch soon (March)? pic. twitter. com/NVcqH8As47 According to AppleInsider’s sources at Target, placeholder listings like these are fairly common, and are usually an indication that products will ship within the month, or sometimes even within the week.

While placeholder names aren’t generally accurate, their sources said that placeholder pricing usually is. A $399 price point would make the over-ear headphones around $150 more expensive than the in-ear AirPods Pro, but it’s the same price as both our current top picks for the best wireless over-ear headphones: the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 and Sennheiser Momentum Wireless. The release of a pair of over-ear headphones technically wouldn’t be a first for Apple, since it’s been selling over-ear headphones under its Beats brand for a while. The wireless on-ear Beats Studio 3, for example, are currently available for $350.

However, they would be the company’s first under the Apple brand. These headphones aren’t the only new products we could see from Apple in the first half of this year. Last month’s report from Kuo claimed that we’d also see the company’s rumored Tag trackers (although Kuo recently revised this to Q3), a new lower-cost 4. 7-inch LCD iPhone, a new wireless charger, and updates for its iPad Pro, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air devices.