Next-gen Apple AirPods could do much more than play your music

If Apple only made AirPods, it'd still be bigger than Nintendo. It reportedly sold more than $18 billion worth of earbuds in 2023, bringing in six billion dollars more than Nintendo did in the same period.

However, Apple believes there's a much bigger business for its buds – health.

We've already seen AirPods Pro 2 move into hearing. Now a new report says that the company wants to deliver many more health features. Think an Apple Watch you stick in your lugs rather than wear on your wrist.

This could be a very big deal. Tim Cook has said on many occasions that he hopes his legacy will be in Apple's health monitoring features, and the market for health-related technology is truly massive.

What's Apple planning for AirPods Pro 3?

The report by Bloomberg says that Apple currently has multiple teams working on potential health features for future AirPods Pro models. Those include heart rate monitoring, body temperature sensing, and "technology that tracks a slew of physiological measures."

The main focus is currently on heart rate monitoring.

Bloomberg says that Apple is concentrating on the reliability of those measurements and could have the feature ready to go in time for the launch of the AirPods Pro 3. Its sources claim that, for now the Apple Watch is more reliable when it comes to heart rate tracking, but the difference between its tracking and the prototype AirPods Pros isn't dramatic.

As previously reported, Apple is also experimenting with AirPods that have cameras inside them. Don't expect them any time soon, though.

Apple started the experiment a few years ago before shutting it down, and while it's been revived again as part of the ongoing Apple Intelligence efforts, it isn't expected to make it into your ears for at least a couple of years – assuming the project doesn't get shut down again.