According to the latest revelations from well-known Apple analyst Ming Kuo, Apple plans to launch new AirPods equipped with infrared lenses in 2026, which will be used to enhance the spatial audio experience and may provide new fitness tracking features and enhanced functional experiences.
Apple's new AirPods IR Lens will enhance the experience of 4 major functions
Guo Ming said that the new AirPods will be mass-produced around 2026, and will be equipped with an infrared lens module at the bottom of the earphones, similar to the IR lens receiver module used in Apple's face recognition, which can detect changes in environmental images, and the application is expected to have the following four functional features:
Enhance personalized spatial audio
At present, the "personalized spatial audio" carried by AirPods mainly uses accelerometers and gyroscopes to track the user's head movement, and adjust spatial audio based on these data.
Fitness tracking
The infrared lens also allows AirPods to support fitness tracking features, such as tracking the user's head movements, providing more accurate exercise data, tracking the user's workout intensity and fatigue, as well as tracking steps, posture correction and heart rate monitoring.
Gesture control and situational awareness
Apple has applied for a new patent for AirPods, which describes a technology that uses an infrared camera to track the user's finger and ear movements, which also means that when AirPods are equipped with an infrared camera, they can also support air gesture control and environmental awareness, so as to improve the human-computer interaction experience.
For example, users can wave their hand gestures in the air to control music playback or take phone calls, which is ideal for hearing-impaired and Apple Vision Pro wearers, while the AirPods infrared lens can also be used to sense their surroundings and automatically adjust sounds or enable noise cancellation.
整合Apple Vision Pro空间运算功能
Kuo Ming believes that the new AirPods are expected to be used with Vision Pro and future Apple headsets, which can enhance spatial audio and enhance the spatial computing ecosystem, such as when Vision Pro users watch videos and wear new AirPods, they can turn their heads to look in a certain direction, which can enhance the spatial sound experience of Vision Pro.
When the new AirPods infrared models are available
Although the launch date of the new AirPods is yet to be confirmed, Kuo Ming said that Apple plans to start production of new infrared-equipped AirPods products in 2026, of which Foxconn has been selected as the NPI (New Product Introduction) supplier for this product, indicating that Apple is actively advancing the development of the project and has the possibility of launching new AirPods in 2026.
I believe that the future will be the era of "spatial computing" MR technology, as long as the technology will be more mature and affordable over time, Apple will be able to become a leader in this field.
Vocabulary analysis
- Infrared Lens: A lens capable of capturing infrared radiation, commonly used in night vision devices.
- Spatial Audio: An audio technology that simulates real-world sound sources to create surround sound effects.
- Accelerometer: An instrument that measures the acceleration of an object, often used in mobile devices to track motion.
- Gyroscope: A device that measures and maintains direction, commonly used in aircraft and smartphones.
- MR (Mixed Reality): Mixed reality technology, which combines the characteristics of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) to create a new environment that blends real world and virtual elements.
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