【Korea Archives】

Apple's AirPods Pro are Korea Archivespretty great, but they have a pretty annoying trait which I'm reminded of every time the earbuds need charging: the case features Apple's proprietary Lightning port, instead of the near-ubiquitous USB-C port.

That might change fairly soon. According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple will launch a new version of AirPods Pro with a USB-C port in either the second or the third quarter of 2023.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Kuo was replying to a tweet from Twitter user @aaronp613, a developer who spotted references to new AirPods models in Apple's iOS 16.4 software, which is more proof that the new AirPods Pro may be coming soon.

Kuo also said that Apple "appears to have no plans" to launch USB-C versions of its "regular" AirPods, which also come with a Lightning port.

• Nothing Ear (2) vs. AirPods: Which wireless earbuds come out on top?
• Apple AirPods 2 review: Still the best wireless earbuds you can buy
• Nothing launches Ear (2) earbuds with noise cancellation and hi-res sound
• Best headphones for iPhone owners: Think outside the (AirPods) box
• The best noise-cancelling headphones for flying

The AirPods were originally launched in 2016, and Apple has refreshed them twice, in 2019 and 2021. It would make sense to launch a new version this year; in fact, more so than the AirPods Pro, which were upgraded fairly recently. The AirPods Pro were originally launched in 2019, and an improved version was released in 2022. It's unclear whether Apple plans to add more features to the updated version, or whether the USB-C port will be the only thing that's new.

(Editor: {typename type="name"/})