Apple is Reportedly Working on Health Features for AirPods

Apple is reportedly working on new health-related features for its AirPods to potentially break into the hearing aids market. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that the company is “exploring major new hearing health and body-temperature features” for its AirPods that may eventually complement the various health features on the Apple Watch.

While AirPods can already be used as a hearing aid with the existing Live Listen and Conversation Boost features, Apple doesn’t have regulatory approval to compete with established hearing aid manufacturers. However, Gurman reports that Apple hopes to change that and hired engineers from traditional hearing aid makers.

According to the report, Apple is working on a new hearing test feature on its AirPods to help users determine how well they can hear. The company is also exploring adding sensors to measure body temperature from a wearer’s ear canal, which may give more precise data than Apple Watch Series 8 and Ultra sensors that currently measure wrist temperature.

If Gurman believes that these health features are “likely several months or even years away,” the reporter also mentioned other upcoming changes on the iPhone lineup, including a switch to USB-C for charging. Apple could also drop the baseline price of its AirPods to better compete with other earbuds from Samsung, Amazon, and other manufacturers.

The subscriber-only version of Gurman’s Power On newsletter also mentions Apple’s work on a new Mac display that could be used independently thanks to a built-in A-Series chip. This new monitor could be used as a smart home display when a connected Mac is off. We’ve already seen glimpses of this vision with the new Standy feature in iOS 17, which transforms a charging iPhone in a horizontal position into a smart display.