According to a report from Bloomberg, Apple is currently working on two new versions of its popular AirPods.
Hey Siri
It looks as though Apple is planning to make some improvements to how Siri works with AirPods. Most notably with the addition of always-on “hey Siri” commands like you can use on other devices. Currently, invoking Siri with AirPods involves a button press. This could be achieved by switching out the W1 wireless chip with the improved W2 chip already found in the third-generation Apple Watch. This upgrade is likely to be released before the end of the year.
Splash-proof
Looking further ahead, Apple is also planning to add water resistance to a future version of the AirPods, potentially for release in 2019. This would be to protect from exposure to rain and inadvertent splashes, not full submersion. So those dreams of going swimming with an Apple Watch on your wrist and AirPods in your ears probably won’t be realized anytime soon.
Charging case
In addition to these forthcoming headphone updates, Apple is expected to release an updated version of the AirPods case with improved charging capabilities. It’s possible we’ll see this pretty soon, alongside the AirPower wireless charging dock that was announced last year without a specific release date.