The AirPods Studio – AKA, the first-ever Apple over-ear headphones – could launch today (June 22) at Apple’s annual WWDC 2020 event.
Today’s keynote kicks off at 10AM PT / 1PM ET / 6PM BST (3AM AEST on June 23), and it’s free to watch – and you can follow all the action with our WWDC liveblog. This is when we’re expecting to see the new AirPods Studio, alongside iOS 14, iPadOS 14, watchOS 7, macOS 10.16.
At least, that’s what’s been rumored for the last few months. However, a recent tweet from prolific Apple leaker Jon Prosser has has suggested that hardware announcements at WWDC 2020 have been cancelled altogether.
Looking like any possible hardware has been scrapped for WWDC tomorrow 🤔 Might be wrong about this one. Would love to be wrong!I’ll be surprised with all of you, either way!June 21, 2020
Prosser has had accurate information this year on the iPhone SE and new Macs, so he may be correct. As he says, he doesn’t know for certain if this is the case, but if there’s no new tech announced today it sounds like that wasn’t always the plan.
We’re hoping that this isn’t the case. We’ve been anticipating a pair of Apple over-ear headphones for a while now, with numerous outlets reporting that the Cupertino company is planning to release the so-called AirPods Studio this year.
The headphones could well be the smartest headphones we’ve ever seen, if rumors of clever ear-detecting sensors are to be believed – and like the AirPods Pro, we’re expecting them to come with active noise cancellation, too.
The AirPods Studio aren’t the only new Apple headphones rumored to launch in 2020, too. The AirPods Pro Lite will apparently be an entry-level version of the noise-cancelling AirPods Pro, while the so-called AirPods 3 are the anticipated follow-up to the original AirPods – which saw their last upgrade in 2019.
Any one of these new AirPods could launch at WWDC, too – only time will tell if we’ll actually see any new Apple hardware today.
Cut to the chase
- What are they? Apple’s first over-ear headphones
- When will they be released? It’s rumored that they’ll launch today (June 22, 2020)
- What will they be called? Possibly the Apple AirPods Studio or the AirPods X
- How much will they cost? Reportedly $349 (about £280 / AU$530)
The Apple AirPods Studio are perhaps the most concrete rumored release we know about so far. That’s because the headphones were apparently revealed early, after 9to5Mac discovered icons representing the rumored cans in iOS 14 code.
Two icons – one light, one dark – depict a pair of over-ear headphones with padding on the earcups and headband, and appear to show two different color options for the headphones (likely space gray and the same white as the AirPods).
This is the clearest image of the new Apple headphones so far. You can check out the icons below:
Right now, everything we know about the AirPods Studio – from potential release dates to prices – are based on rumors and leaks. That’s not to say that we shouldn’t lend any credence to what we’ve heard so far – that’s why we’ve compiled this guide to everything we know about the first Apple over-ear headphones, as well as all the features we want to see from the Apple AirPods Studio.
Apple AirPods Studio release date
The Apple AirPods Studio could be released today as part of Apple’s annual WWDC event.
The keynote kicks off at 10AM PT / 1PM ET / 6PM BST (3AM AEST on June 23), and it’s free to watch – and we’ll be right there with you on our WWDC liveblog.
As we mentioned, we might not see any hardware at all today, if a recent tweet by Jon Prosser is to be believed – we’re hoping this isn’t the case, though.
The June 22 release date has been floating around for a while now, and was most recently posited by XDA Developer‘s Max Weinbach, who says that says the firmware for the over-ear headphones has been “finalized” and is ready to go onto the production units.
Weinbach also claims that the launch is happening “imminently”, and “likely” to take place at WWDC 2020, which is set to take place on June 22.
This new intel backs up a May report by The Information, which says that Apple suppliers Goertek and Luxshare will assemble “at least a portion of the headphones in Vietnam and begin shipments to Apple in June or July”.
We’ve also seen some pretty hefty Apple headphone discounts in recent days, suggesting that Apple could be shifting stock ahead of a release.
In any case, a 2020 release date has been on the cards for a long time. KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo – whose Apple predictions have been proven right in the past – claimed that the new headphones will launch in 2020 back in 2018, when he said that Apple was working on updated AirPods as well as “own-brand, high-end over-ear headphones with an all-new design” back in 2018.
As we now know, Kuo’s prediction about the updated AirPods turned out to be right, as the release of AirPods (2019) last year, and the subsequent release of the AirPods Pro demonstrated.
Since then, Kuo elaborated on his initial claims, saying that 2020 would bring iPhone SE 2 (check), a new iPad Pro (check) and MacBooks with scissor keys, as well as a “smaller wireless charging mat, UWB tag, and a high-end Bluetooth headphone” from Apple.
With Kuo’s predictions being correct so far, we wouldn’t be surprised if he – and the others – are right about the over-ear model being released in the first half of 2020 too – which would nicely coincide with WWDC later today.
There’s no guarantee that the AirPods Studio will launch today, though. A tweet from well-respected tech analyst Jon Prosser suggests new in-ear AirPods (perhaps the AirPods 3 or the AirPods Pro Lite) will come before the over-ear Apple AirPods Studio. That means we could be waiting until the latter half 2020 to see them, perhaps at Apple’s annual iPhone launch event in October.
Either way, we’re expecting to see the AirPods Studio this year – even if the headphones’ release date has been pushed back in the past, as Bloomberg reported way back in 2018.
Apple AirPods Studio price
An inventory listing from US store Target, may have revealed the price of the hotly-anticipated cans.
YouTuber Jon Prosser posted an image to Twitter, purporting to show the upcoming over-ear headphones in Target’s system, mysteriously listed as “Apple AirPods (X Generation)”.
The product in the image appears to cost $399, which works out at around £300 / AU$600 – if these are the rumored AirPod Studio / AirPods X then the brand is aiming for the higher end of the price scale, surpassing the cost of competitors like the Sony WH-1000XM3 and the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700.
More recently, however, Prosser alleged that the AirPods Studio they’ll be around $50 cheaper than initial reports suggested, coming in at $349 (about £280 / AU$530).
Either way, we’re not expecting the new Apple over-ear headphones to come cheap.
Apple AirPods Studio design
The two icons discovered in the iOS 14 code clearly depict a pair of over-ear headphones – and the lack of wires suggests they may be wireless, too. To be honest, we wouldn’t expect Apple to release a pair of wired headphones after the success of their previous true wireless models.
The icons also appear to show two different color options for the headphones (likely space gray and the same white as the AirPods).
However, Jon Prosser has speculated that the Apple over-ear headphones could come in a range of colors, citing the existence of three different product codes, all priced at $399 (around £320 / AU$610). So far, Apple’s existing headphones, the EarPods, AirPods, and AirPods Pro, have only ever been available in white, though Apple-owned Beats headphones often come in a range of bright colors.
Apple AirPods Studio: what we want to see
The best over-ear headphones combine slick design, comfort, and portability – ideally without breaking the bank. But these days, headphones can be incredibly tech-heavy as well, which is what we would expect from a pioneering company like Apple.
That’s why we’d like to see modern conveniences like wireless connectivity, built-in voice assistance, and active noise-cancelling in the rumored Apple over-ear headphones – and above all else, fantastic sound quality.
Better sound quality than the AirPods
They may be popular, but Apple’s AirPods have never been known for their audio quality. While they have a lively presentation, they can sound a bit harsh when it comes to higher frequency sounds like snares, violins, and trumpets.
The Apple AirPods also aren’t the bassiest earbuds on the market (although the more recent AirPods Pro do a better job of this) – but more powerful bass could absolutely be achieved by a higher-spec pair of over-ear headphones.
Ketan Bharadia, International Technical Editor of What Hi-Fi? agrees: “I’ve never rated the sound of the company’s in-ears but, considering [Apple’s] engineering might and the sonic qualities of their iPhones and the HomePod, there’s plenty of potential for over-ears to stir things up.”
Over-ears tend to offer higher sound quality than in-ear models anyway, partly because they have bigger drivers than in-ear models. These larger drivers are able to displace larger volumes of air than their smaller counterparts, which in turn creates a more powerful audio performance.
According to Audio Advice, these larger drivers tend to reproduce the “widest range of frequencies, from silky smooth highs to tight, deep bass,” providing a richer, more colorful soundstage than in-ear headphones.
Classic Apple design
Take away the technical aspects of a pair of headphones, and you’ve essentially got a (potentially very expensive) piece of headgear – and as such, it’s important that they look good.
We know that Apple has a strong design aesthetic; despite initial ridicule, the Apple AirPods have become iconic for their unique design, with lots of true wireless earbud manufacturers since taking inspiration from their long, protruding stems and all-white color scheme.
We’d like to see an evolution of Apple’s classic design with their rumored over-ear headphones, with smooth, clean lines, premium materials, and a minimalist look without lots of bulky hardware ruining the effect.
Although Apple hasn’t even confirmed the existence of the AirPods Studio, that hasn’t stopped German tech publication Curved from mocking up its own concept illustrations of what the headphones might look like.
The illustrations from Curved are based on the look of Apple’s HomePod, framed by “the same textile mix as Apple’s smart speaker”.
They also take inspiration from Beats headphones in terms of their shape and build, but swaps the Beats logo for Apple’s own hallmark, although we’re not sure such abundant use of color is likely from a brand that has only ever made white audio accessories so far.
Saying that, it has been posited that the Apple AirPods Studio could come in a range of colors, after three different product codes, all priced at $399 (around £320 / AU$610) were discovered in a product listing at Target.
Curved also predicted that the headphones would charge wirelessly, showing the mocked-up headphones resting on an Apple-branded charging platform, and that the housings would feature touch controls, a little like the Microsoft Surface headphones.
Decent sound isolation
Which headphones style is best for you?
The way Apple’s over-ear headphones sound will have a huge impact on the different situations they can be used in, as Senior Supervising Engineer at the National Film & Television School Jeremy Rodeschini explains:
“My role is to do with sound engineering covering a wide range of applications from theatrical sound to VR as well as live sound – and each application has very different requirements.”
While Rodeschini looks for “excellent isolation from ambient noise, reliability, and robustness” from the headphones he uses for mixing live sound, comfort and “a slightly flattering response” is preferable when he’s recording actors delivering their lines in the studio.
Of course, noise isolation isn’t just useful for working with live sound; for anyone who wants to listen to music in loud environments, like on their daily public transport commute for example, good noise isolation makes a world of difference.
How well a pair of headphones can isolate ambient noise depends on how well they seal around your ears, creating a physical barrier that prevents environmental sound from getting to your ears; this can be challenging for over-ear styles, as they don’t offer as tight a seal as in-ear models.
Still, a good pair of over-ear headphones should be able to physically block a decent amount of ambient noise, and this is something we would expect from a pair of high-end headphones from Apple.
Fantastic noise cancellation
If Apple wants its AirPods Studio to compete with the best over-ear headphones on the market, it should take a leaf out of Sony’s book, and offer the same high-standard of noise cancellation provided by the Sony WH-1000XM3s, as well as noise isolation.
The best noise-cancelling headphones make commuting a breeze, eliminating the noise of crying babies, honky traffic, and the loud conversations of your neighbors by digitally tuning out unwanted environmental sound.
With Apple’s technological might, we’d be surprised if a pair of over-ear headphones from the San Cupertino company didn’t include noise-cancelling technology – after all, it’s an increasingly common feature of premium headphones.
Apple’s H1 headphone chip
If Apple is going to release a pair of over-ear headphones, we’d expect them to have the same H1 headphone chip that’s built-in to the AirPods (2019) and the PowerBeats Pro.
Apple’s new H1 chip is designed to improve connectivity and battery life, and allows for a new ‘Hey Siri’ voice activation feature in the upgraded AirPods – all of which we would like to see in any future Apple over-ear headphones.
Wireless isn’t everything though – if Apple markets these headphones as studio-quality cans, the option to use a wired connection to your device will be crucial.
This is because wired headphones tend to offer higher quality audio than their wireless counterparts, as Joe Cox, Global Editor-in-Chief of What Hi-Fi? explains:
“Bluetooth would traditionally compress your music files to transmit them wirelessly, reducing audio quality before it’s even reached your headphones.”
While advances in Bluetooth like aptX HD means that audio quality is far better than it once was, you won’t find this technology in Apple’s AirPods (2019) – and if the company doesn’t include support aptX HD in the AirPods Studio, the option for a wired connection will be important to get that studio-quality sound.
For truly modern connectivity, Apple will need to include support for the latest Bluetooth 5.0, while ensuring that gamers don’t experience annoying lag by adding support for aptX Low Latency.
Audio accuracy
It could be that the new AirPods Studio take inspiration from the over-ear headphones already offered by Beats like the Beats Studio 3 wireless noise-cancelling headphones – but these models aren’t exactly known for their audio quality either, with some criticizing their bass-heavy presentation.
If Apple frames these new headphones as studio-quality, true audiophiles like Rodeschini will be looking for perfect audio accuracy:
“Personally I like a comfortable pair of headphones that delivers a sound that is as close to the original as possible so I get to appreciate all the expertise of the mixer and get as close as possible to the artist’s intention.”
He continues: “If a headphone is adding any color to the soundtrack, it would be like adding the same blend of spices to every dish you eat without the chef’s knowledge – not desirable in my opinion.”
Cant wait for the Apple AirPods Studio to launch? Check out the best over-ear headphone deals we’ve found today:
