The fourth-gen AirPods were a rather modest update in terms of capabilities, despite the design refresh. The big change was the arrival of noise cancellation on the higher-end version, but that also came at an extra cost, pushing them into a much higher price bracket where other brands offered better value. It seems the fifth-gen AirPods could move the needle in a few crucial ways.
The big shift
In the latest edition of his PowerOn newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that Apple has already started work on the new H3 wearable chip. It will supposedly bring improvements to the audio quality of the next-gen AirPods Pro, alongside reduced latency. Moroever, it seems work on the vanilla AirPods refresh has begun, too.
“The company is also already developing the AirPods 5, which will mark an update to its entry-level and mid-tier earbuds,” says the report. Gurman notes that the focus is going to be on the wellness and environmental sensing capabilities for the entry-level earbuds.
He clarifies that the fifth-gen AirPods likely won’t get the heart rate sensor, which appeared on the 2025 AirPods Pro. However, the report hypothesizes a temperature sensor appearing on the Apple earbuds. Apple won’t be the first to do it, as Sennheiser and Honor have already delivered wireless earbuds with temperature sensors.
The road ahead
Apple has lately focused on the core capabilities of its wearable products with an added emphasis on accessibility and wellness chops. The AirPods Pro 3, for example, got a heart-rate sensor and AI-powered live translation to complement their hearing aid appeal.
Down the road, Apple plans to add the cameras to the AirPods lineup. An on-board camera will supposedly enable wellness features such as fall detection and emergency response in case of accidents or workout mishaps.
Additionally, they could allow something like Visual Intelligence, an AI-powered feature on iPhones that looks and makes sense of the world as seen through the onboard cameras. As far as the market arrival goes, the fifth-gen AirPods could appear next year, or in 2027, given Apple’s longer cadence for launching refreshed audio gear.
