Airpods

Apple has removed third-party audio devices from its store, possibly heralding new products

Will we finally see the over-the-ear headphones from Apple?

by
Joe Rice-Jones
October 6, 2020

Image: KnowTechie

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It seems that Apple has pulled multiple third-party audio manufacturers from its retail outlets, which probably means that the company is about to unveil its own products to replace them. That’s according to a report in Bloomberg, which goes on to detail the devices missing from Bose, Logitech, and Sonos.

There’s history here, as when the first Apple Watch was ready for release, Apple yanked Fitbit devices from its stores just ahead of the launch. That could mean we’ll get some product announcements from Apple in the weeks ahead, with the long-discussed Studio headphones finally making their appearance.

With Apple only having in-ear models currently, that would round out the range and probably take market share away from the other over-ear, noise-canceling headphone makers, just like how the AirPod range sells like crazy with Apple users.

With Sonos devices getting pulled as well, does that mean we’re going to see a new HomePod? That’d be awesome, the current model has been out for years now and the technology has moved rapidly since. Maybe with Apple letting third-party apps work by default on its other devices, we could see a HomePod that allows other voice assistants other than Siri? Logitech’s Ultimate Ears Megaboom Wireless Bluetooth Speaker also got pulled, so maybe a battery-powered, portable HomePod? Sonos has a similar device so it would add up.

We probably won’t have long to wait to find out, so keep your eyes open for any Apple Event announcements in the coming weeks.

What do you think? Surprised that the company is pulling more third-party devices from its stores? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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