A New ‘H2’ Chip

Apple’s second-generation AirPods ushered in a new generation of Apple’s wireless headphone chips, with an H1 chip replacing the W1 that was found on the original AirPods and most of the company’s Beats-branded wireless headphones.

The H1 chip was notable for adding “Hey Siri” support to the earbuds, among other things, and it eventually found its way into Powerbeats Pro, Beats Solo Pro, Powerbeats, and of course, the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max.

However, there’s a good chance the 2021 AirPods 3 will follow in the footsteps of their second-gen predecessors in being the first to introduce Apple’s next-generation “H2” chip.

To be fair, we don’t know for sure that Apple will call it the “H2” chip — the transition from W1 to H1 caught us by surprise two years ago — nor even whether it will bring any significant new features to the table.

The few rumours we’ve heard suggest that Apple is simply trying to reduce its size and make it faster and more power-efficient, rather than focusing on user-facing improvements.