Apple patents replaceable AirPods design with biometric sensors
Apple's AirPods can be the best earphones in the best class, but they are not for everyone. Because of the shape of some people's inner ear, the headphones simply do not fit in every possible ear shape, or in some cases give pain when placed inside the ear. It's a big drawback for a $ 160 pair of headphones, especially those that could easily be lost and certainly not cheap to replace.
But a new patent filed last year and appealed to Apple today highlights a possible solution: Replaceable "universal" AirPods that could use built-in biometric sensors to perform health tracking and also determine which ear a particular button is located in. .
New AirPods could collect biometric data and be more comfortable to carry
The approved patent application, spotted by 9to5Mac, describes a symmetrical earphone design that "can be worn interchangeably in either a left or right ear of a user." The patent further states that "in such an embodiment, the earplug may include a sensor and circuit configured to determine and change the function of the earplug according to which ear the earplug is determined to sit in."
The patent describes at least one of the sensors as biometric and "configured to be pushed against part of the tragedy", allowing AirPods to perform pulse monitor monitoring and body temperature measurements, including health related metric tracking.
Of course, since this is a patent, the actual technology may be years away from even a prototype phase, let alone a consumer product. But we know Apple is hard at work on a next generation AirPods, originally published a long way back in December 2016, and has not seen an update in two years, despite allegedly strong sales.
According to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple plans to release a new version of AirPods with noise interruption and waterproofing in early next year with a complete redesign of headphones by 2020. If Apple were to revise the design and make the bids are interchangeable, it's sensible that such a product will still be around two years out.
There is also the issue of the unpublished AirPower wireless charging mat that the company has been silent for more than a year now, which would not work with the current AirPods case. So it is safe to say that there is a new version of AirPods coming soon, but those who hope for a more comfortable design may have to wait a couple of years for the version after the next.
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