In a note to clients — as noted by MacRumors — MGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says Apple is working on its own Bluetooth-like communication chip and its own Bluetooth headphone that will likely be included in the wireless earbuds (“AirPods”) the company is reportedly developing.
The analyst predicts that Apple will sell its Apple-branded Bluetooth headphones alongside its Beats line of headphones, targeting the high-end market with the “AirPods” and the mid-range market with the Beats headphones. What’s more, Kuo doesn’t think the company will package Bluetooth headphones with the “iPhone 7,” that’s expected to be unveiled tomorrow. Rather, he thinks that Apple will ship the iPhone 7 with Lightning-based EarPods that feature a Lightning connector instead of a 3.5mm headphone jack and sell the “AirPods” separately.
