In his latest “Power On” newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says Apple is working to make its AirPods more of a health device.
He says the company currently has teams experimenting with a variety of enhancements, including temperature sensing, heart-rate monitoring and technology that tracks a slew of physiological measures.
“The main work right now is getting the AirPods to reliably measure a user’s heart rate,” Gurman says. “Though the Apple Watch already does this, the feature could be a selling point for people who don’t like wearing watches or just want a backup fitness tracker. The capability could be ready for the next-generation AirPods Pro, which are in early development. In Apple’s testing, heart-rate data is more accurate on the watch than AirPods, but the earbuds aren’t terribly far off.”
He adds that Apple also is figuring out a way to cram cameras into the earbuds to help with AI services. The work started off as an experiment a few years ago before getting shuttered.
“But with the company rallying around AI and its Apple Intelligence platform, the project was brought back to life. In fact, it’s now seen as a priority for the teams within Apple’s AI and AirPods hardware development groups,” Gurman says. “That said, I wouldn’t expect the technology to hit the market for a couple more years — assuming it doesn’t get canceled again.”
This info from Gurman is from the free edition of “Power On”. If you like it, consider subscribing to Bloomberg.com—you’ll receive the newsletter earlier and get exclusive access to a Q&A section.
