Apple is expected to unveil its lineup of products, including the iPhone 17 series and the new Apple Watch series, during its annual September event.

As the date draws closer, speculations around the AirPods Pro 3 have also been circulating on social media for quite some time now. But killing all the fans’ excitement for the upcoming AirPods is analyst Ming-Chi Kuo who says he does not expect major improvements in the AirPods lineup this year.

In fact, Kuo expects the redesigned AirPods Pro with infrared cameras to be introduced sometime in 2026.

According to 9To5Mac, Kuo’s recent update contradicts previous estimates of the AirPods Pro 3 launching with improved Active Noise Cancellation, a next-gen H3 chipset and a heart-rate monitor this year.

However, the analyst now claims that any major update in the AirPods Pro lineup will not be coming until 2026, when the device will include infrared camera sensors to allow for more immersive interactions, particularly in spatial computing environments such as Apple’s Vision Pro headset.

While Apple hasn’t launched a new hardware version of AirPods Pro since 2022, the company has continued to improve the earphones’ capabilities through software updates, including features like adaptive audio and personalised volume.

More importantly, the AirPods Pro 2 can now function as licensed hearing aids, correcting for mild-to-moderate hearing loss.

Not just AirPods Pro 3, as per Kuo, Apple’s AirPod Max is also not going to see any major upgrades till 2027, leaving current users with the same design that Apple first introduced in 2020 for the buyers.

The company does have a broad lineup of products coming through in the next 24 months, which includes the iPhone 17 series, with the 17 Air making its debut and the rumours of the iPhone Ultra model gathering further mileage.