The latest rumors suggest that Apple will launch a new iPad Pro and iPad mini 6 in March, but it looks like the company will have some new products in April as well. Mac Otakara supply chain sources informed the site that Apple is currently working on the AirPods Pro 2 and iPhone SE 3 for a spring launch.
The details are very scarce for both, but there is a little more detail for the AirPods Pro 2, which the site says will have a new look charging case with dimensions of 21 x 46 x 54 mm. For comparison, the current AirPods Pro charging case is 21 x 45.2 x 60.6 mm, so it’s a small, but noticeable difference.
This may indicate a change in the design of the headphones themselves, and this is what was suggested earlier. In October, it was reported that AirPods 2 would be abandoning the rod and imitating a rounded ear pad design closer to Amazon Echo Buds and Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus.
The report emphasized that the design changes were not final thanks to the difficulties of packing AirPods Pro trimmings in a smaller package, and the badly altered height of the case suggests that the rods may remain in some way – unless Apple is planning have them look differently during loading.
Then there is the iPhone SE 3, but unfortunately the only new information here is that it is expected in April, with no clue about the design or internal specifications. Still, this in itself is extremely encouraging, given the four-year gap between the first iPhone SE in 2016 and last year’s follow-up.
Interestingly, this goes against what we heard earlier from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who predicted that a new iPhone SE would not appear until the second half of the year, but perhaps Apple is reacting to rumors of low sales figures from the other the company’s small device, the iPhone 12 mini.
Another alternative is that the two sources may be arguing with Kuo referring to a real iPhone SE 3 and Mac Otakara discussing the alleged iPhone SE Plus – a larger basic device based on the iPhone 8 Plus bezel.
In any case, it looks like Apple has a dense release schedule planned for spring, and that’s before we get to the company’s World Developer Conference in June, where new hardware occasionally appears. With a flurry of launches in late 2020, including new Apple Watches, M1 MacBooks and AirPods Max, it appears that Ming-Chi Kuo was correct, and the company overcame the Covid-19 related supply chain problems that propelled the iPhone 12 some weeks ago.