Apple will be announcing its third and latest generation of AirPods during tomorrow’s California Streaming event, which will also see the launch of the iPhone 13, according to Ming-Chi Kuo, a Taiwanese tech analyst. You’ll be able to watch the event live starting at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET on Tuesday, September 14, on Apple-TV compatible devices and YouTube.
Last updated March 2019, the AirPods 2 have been woefully due for an upgrade. Interestingly enough, Apple is reportedly going to continue to keep the AirPods 2 on the market. This could mean one of two things: The AirPods 2 could potentially drop in price alongside this announcement offering a more budget-friendly true wireless earbud option for iPhone users or the upcoming AirPods 3 could be sold at a higher price point. To put it in perspective, the AirPods 2 with the charging case will currently set you back $159, which is competitive with some of the nicer options you get from Jabra and Samsung.
Rumors about the AirPods 3 have been rampant in recent months. Most notably, the new AirPods are not expected to feature noise-canceling. While we would have loved to have seen that feature on this model, Apple will most likely keep noise-canceling an exclusive feature of the AirPods Pro and Airpods Max lines, at least for the foreseeable future.
According to Bloomberg, the AirPods 3 may have a shorter stem for a more comfortable ear fit, similar to the AirPods Pro. They may also come with fitness-tracking sensors for a more customized fitness experience that also ties into the Apple Watch, which is also expected to get a new model, the Series 7, at the event.
We’ll be covering “California Streaming” in detail, so be sure to keep an eye on what gets announced on September 14.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Samsung’s scandal over its Game Optimizing Service, or GOS, has returned with a bill attached. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has tentatively fined the company 20.1 billion won, or about $15.1 million, over gaming claims made for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22, and Tab S8.
The regulator says Samsung promoted the devices as gaming powerhouses without disclosing that GOS placed preset CPU and GPU limits on certain demanding games. Samsung disputes that conclusion, calling GOS a legitimate way to manage heat.