Apple Not Expected to Announce Any New Beats Products at Wednesday's Event

[MacRumors]

For the past several months, rumors have provided a glimpse of what to expect at Apple's special event on Wednesday. Now, we may know of at least one category that won't see any stage time tomorrow.

The Verge, citing a source close to the situation, reports that Apple does not plan to announce any new hardware from its Beats subsidiary at its "Gather Round" event at Steve Jobs Theater on Wednesday. The only new headphones expected are an updated pair of AirPods with "Hey Siri" support.

If the report is accurate, that means Apple fans should keep their expectations low for any new Beats headphones, or a lower-priced HomePod rumored to arrive in the form of a Siri-enabled Beats speaker.

Apple acquired Beats for $3 billion in 2014, and since then, the company has routinely refreshed the headphone lineup. However, it has yet to do so in 2018. The current lineup revolves around the Beats Solo3, Powerbeats3, and BeatsX, released in 2016 with Apple's W1 chip for easy pairing.

Beats also launched Studio3 over-ear headphones with the W1 chip in 2017, followed by urBeats 3 with a Lightning connector, but for the most part, the headphone lineup is nearly two years outdated.

With so many rumored products in Apple's pipeline through the remainder of this year, it's not much of a surprise that Beats might not see any stage time at its September event. The keynote is expected to revolve around new iPhones, Apple Watch Series 4 models, new AirPods, and AirPower charging mat availability.

It's unclear when Beats may be updated next. Apple certainly has enough on its docket for an October event, if it holds new iPad Pro models with Face ID and a wide range of new Macs until then, and perhaps it could fit in some Beats announcements too. Or, a simple press release would do the trick.

One wildcard is rumored Apple-branded, high-end over-ear headphones, which Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said could be released in the fourth quarter of 2018 at the earliest. Apple could certainly unveil the headphones tomorrow, although we've heard nothing specific to suggest that might occur.

Apple's keynote begins Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time, at Steve Jobs Theater, situated on its Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino, California. MacRumors will be providing live coverage of the event, with a live blog starting around 8:15 a.m. Pacific Time, and live tweets via @MacRumorsLive.

Apple will be live streaming the event on its website and Twitter.

Article Link: Apple Not Expected to Announce Any New Beats Products at Wednesday's Event

 

[Blackstick]

Fine by me, they're garbage headphones for the money you spend.

 

[BvizioN]

That’s fine. Leave some products for the iPad event in October.

 

[AngerDanger]

I think I speak for most here when I say that I am absolutely gutted.

 

[recoil80]

I'd love to see a new version of AirPods in-ear, would buy them instantly.
As for Beats I'm really happy with my BeatsX and don't need to upgrade any of my headphones so I don't care about Beats stuff not making to the event.

 

[Christoffee]

I'd love to see a new version of AirPods in-ear, would buy them instantly.

In ear AirPods is where it is at for me. I’d love a pair.

 

[Wags]

Meh. No thanks.

 

[BornAgainMac]

They can update the Beats products at the same frequency as the Mac Mini and I wouldn't complain.

 

[Moakesy]

Does this actually constitute a story?

The rumour is that there isn't a rumour about headphones?

 

[szw-mapple fan]

Has Beats ever made into a keynote post acquisition? I seem to remember last time everything was updated immediately after the keynote.

 

[joueboy]

We all know the reason why Beats was acquired in the first place. Beats is also the official headphone of the NBA and they have a targeted market. Those people will buy Beats anyways and I don't think Apple would really market Beats in your face as an Apple product.

 

[GaryMumford]

I think I speak for most here when I say that I am absolutely gutted.

Nope!

 

[ItWasNotMe]

Beats - the new Mac Mini

 

[AppleHaterLover]

Beats are a disservice to Apple. The sound is atrocious, the price tags are heinous. The AirPods are the same thing, they sound like absolute garbage and offer $10 sound in a $129 package.

 

[oneMadRssn]

I'd love to see a new version of AirPods in-ear, would buy them instantly.

In addition to in-ear for fit and noise isolation, my wishlist also includes better (non-voice/Siri) volume control.

 

[GaryMumford]

Does this actually constitute a story?

The rumour is that there isn't a rumour about headphones?

You are so right.

Apple Not Expected to Announce New Mac Mini
Apple Not Expected to Announce New Mac Pro
Apple Not Expected to Announce New iMac
Apple Not Expected to Announce... The list go's on

 

[asiga]

Just announce Macs tomorrow, and leave beats and phones, toys, whatever for October. The toys can wait, but we need the Macs tomorrow.

 

[magicschoolbus]

Does that mean no AirPods?

 

[0924487]

Does that mean no AirPods?

AirPods are Apple branded

 

[jagolden]

Beats are a disservice to Apple. The sound is atrocious, the price tags are heinous. The AirPods are the same thing, they sound like absolute garbage and offer $10 sound in a $129 package.

An opinion with nothing to back it up.
Please, list some good alternatives that you prefer.
I think your join date explains it all though. Timing is everything.

 

[nt5672]

Since we not seen anything about emojis, I guess this keynote will be a real letdown. I've gotten accustomed to getting new emojis every release cycle. And I thought that was what teenagers identified as innovation.

 

[CWallace]

I was holding out for the Apple-branded Headphones, but with the rumors pushing it to 2019 and Amazon having a 50% off sale, I picked up a Studio3 (in Porcelain Rose) and have been quite satisfied.

 

[827538]

Not a personal fan of beats but I'm pretty surprised they haven't bothered to update them with USB-C or Lightning. I loathe Micro-USB, at least if it's Lightning or USB-C it's reversible and would be much easier to fit in with the products we already own which are now all USB-C or Lightning.

 

[the johnmc]

Since we not seen anything about emojis, I guess this keynote will be a real letdown. I've gotten accustomed to getting new emojis every release cycle. And I thought that was what teenagers identified as innovation.

Give it a rest. Emoji are part of the Unicode standard. Apple doesn't come up with new emoji, but rather their take on the emoji that are added to the standard buy the Unicode Consortium. Nobody is claiming that new emoji are innovation other than the bitter commenters on here. The general public like them and that drives sales. We get it, you don't like emoji. Apple isn't marketing only to you.

 

[nt5672]

An opinion with nothing to back it up.
Please, list some good alternatives that you prefer.
I think your join date explains it all though. Timing is everything.

Quality is always in the eye of the beholder.

All of us, that have had the opportunity and time to listen to pristine audio under good listening conditions, understand that Apple's ear devices (or even the raw audio output) are not meant for that environment and do not preform at an acceptable level. Just because your ears are evidently not sensitive enough or trained to hear these problems does not mean the problems do not exist.

In addition, people get used to all kinds of things, like living next to train tracks, living in the city and hearing whistles, car horns, sirens, etc. So its no wonder that you gotten accustomed to your Apple ear devices.