Skip to main content

Apple’s 2019 AirPods Could Have Serious Competition from Google And Amazon

By

The latest patent filing suggests Apple is betting big on health tracking features as the next big evolution for the AirPods.




Perhaps conspicuous by their absence on the update calendar for this year, there are great expectations that Apple will update the wireless earphones in 2019. The latest patent filing by the company suggests that the next update for the AirPods will bring in a lot more features. The patent filing suggests that there will be a slight redesign of the earbuds, and the buds will now be compatible with either ear—at present, there are designated ones for the left and the right ears. There will be a bendable band, optional perhaps, to securely lock in the earphones when you are wearing them. There is also a belief that the new AirPods buds will have biometric sensors built-in. These would be very handy for health tracking, such as monitoring the heart rate, blood volume, respiratory rate, body temperature and more. 

It would be interesting to see if Apple introduces the electrocardiogram (ECG) scan feature with the new AirPods. That is currently available only on the latest generation of the Apple Watch, and is being gradually activated in countries where Apple has received necessary regulatory permissions. Users in India still await the ability to use this feature, since Apple has not yet received the permissions here. 

 All these updates to actually be very necessary for AirPods to maintain their lead in the truly wireless earphones space. Yes, currently it has competition from brands such as Sony, Bose and Bragi, to name a few—but there is expected to be more in 2019. Popular Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggests that Google and Amazon are jumping into the battlefield. “The new ear-device competition to break out soon: Google and Amazon to be Apple’s main competitors in the AirPod-alike market; Goertek and Unitech to be the sole suppliers for Google and Amazon’s AirPod-alike products,” says Kuo in his latest report to investors, before adding, “We believe that AirPods’ success has drawn Google and Amazon’s attention and these two companies will launch AirPod-alike products in 2H19. The combined shipments of two brands will likely reach 10–20mn units in 2H19. Goertek (assembly) and Unitech (Rigid-flex PCB) are sole suppliers for Google and Amazon.”

These reports come after we have already heard that the next generation of the AirPods will have the “Hey Siri” feature, water resistance and enhanced health tracking features built-in. There is expectation that Apple will ship around 50 million AirPods in 2019, and around 100 million units by the year 2021. 

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Please give some suggestions or share your experience here...

Popular posts from this blog

Xiaomi Mi A1 Oreo Beta update now seeding

By
Xiaomi Mi A1 Oreo Beta update now seeding Last week  Xiaomi was looking for beta testers  of the Mi A1 Android Oreo upgrade. Today the update has finally started seding and we even got a bunch of screenshots from it. The Oreo Beta of the  Xiaomi Mi A1  is 1104 MB in size, and according to an early adopter makes the fingerprint reader on the back is a bit faster. Apparently, the dual-SIM feature is not entirely flawless in this early edition, though. The tests should end soon as  Xiaomi promised that the Mi A1 Oreo stable update will arrive before the end of 2017.
Post a Comment
Read more

Honor 7A, Honor 7C With Dual Rear Cameras Launched in India, Prices Start at Rs. 8,999

By
Honor 7A and Honor 7C were launched in India on Tuesday, at an event in New Delhi. The two budget smartphones from Huawei's sub-brand Honor are exclusive to  Flipkart  and  Amazon  in India, respectively. The smartphones were launched in China in April and March respectively. Both smartphones have been priced starting below Rs. 10,000 in India, taking on Xiaomi's  Redmi Note 5  and  Redmi 5  series of smartphones. The two Honor 7-Series smartphones are very similar to each other, with minor differences in screen size and processor. In terms of similarities, they both have the same dual rear camera setup, the same front camera resolution, same screen resolution, same battery capacity, and both also run EMUI 8.0 based on Android 8.0 Oreo. Honor 7A, Honor 7C price in India, launch offers The Honor 7A price in India has been set at Rs. 8,999. It will go on sale exclusively via Flipkart from 12pm IST on May ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Apple to Release More Affordable 13-Inch MacBook Air Soon: KGI

By
Apple  is reportedly planning to launch a more affordable variant of the 13-inch  MacBook Air  in the second quarter of 2018. Apple is likely to release a new MacBook Air "with a lower price tag" during the second quarter of 2018, meaning we should see it sooner rather than later, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities was quoted as saying by 9 to 5 mac on Saturday. The analyst expects the more affordable MacBook Air will help push MacBook shipments up by 10-15 percent this year. MacBook Air, launched by then Apple CEO Steve Jobs at the MacWorld Expo in San Francisco in 2008, has not been updated since 2015 as Apple has shifted focus towards the 12-inch MacBook and  MacBook Pro . The 13-inch MacBook Air, a popular choice for college students, is currently sold starting at $999 (roughly Rs. 65,000) for 128GB of PCIe-based storage, a 1.8GHz dual-core i5 processor, and 8GB of LPDDR3 RAM. It is priced at Rs. 77,200 in In...
Post a Comment
Read more