AirPods & AirPower

We’re honestly not expecting this to be announced at the actual event, but we’re still convinced that the new AirPods and Apple’s long-awaited AirPower charging mat are coming before the end of the month.

In fact, we could see a quiet press release later this week, much like Apple just did with the new iPads and iMac updates, but since this new hardware is tied to iOS 12.2, Apple will likely wait until after iOS 12.2 is publicly released — likely immediately following Monday’s event.

It’s still unclear exactly what we’re going to see in new AirPods — rumours have ranged from a whole new “AirPods 2” with new color and health monitoring options to the idea that we may simply see a new charging case for the existing AirPods. However, putting all of the rumours together, we’re betting on a feature refresh that retains the same design while adding a wireless charging case, “Hey Siri” support, and improved water- and sweat-proofing.

None of these changes will likely justify the new AirPods getting any stage time on Monday — especially since there’s not even an obvious tie-in to Apple’s other announcements. Further, Apple would likely prefer not to draw attention to its failure to deliver AirPower as originally promised, although we always like to leave a little bit of room for the company to surprise us.