iOS 16.4 Seemingly References New AirPods and AirPods Case - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

iOS 16.4 Seemingly References New AirPods and AirPods Case

The iOS 16.4 release candidate version that was provided to developers today appears to hint at a new set of AirPods that could be coming in the near future. According to @aaronp613, the beta features references to AirPods that have a model number of A3048 and an AirPods case with a model number of A2968.

airpodsd 3 purple 4
There have been no rumors that new AirPods are on the horizon, and it is early for Apple to update the earbuds as they were just refreshed in 2021.


It is not clear if there are indeed new AirPods on the way or if this is some kind of iterative update that will see Apple transitioning to USB-C charging instead of Lightning for the charging case as expected.

Related Roundup: AirPods 4
Buyer's Guide: AirPods (Neutral)
Related Forum: AirPods

Popular Stories

iPhone 18 Pro Deep Red Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Wednesday March 18, 2026 7:39 am PDT by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not expected to launch for another six months or so, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. It was initially reported that the iPhone 18 Pro models would have fully under-screen Face ID, with only a front camera visible in the top-left corner of the screen. However, the latest rumors indicate that only one Face ID component...
imac video apple feature

Apple Released Yet Another New Product Today

Friday March 20, 2026 2:39 pm PDT by
Apple has unveiled a whopping nine new products so far this March, including an iPhone 17e, iPad Air models with the M4 chip, MacBook Air models with the M5 chip, MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, the all-new MacBook Neo, an updated Studio Display, a higher-end Studio Display XDR, AirPods Max 2, and now the Nike Powerbeats Pro 2. iPhone 17e features the same overall design as...
ios 26 4 yellow

Here Are Apple's Release Notes for iOS 26.4

Wednesday March 18, 2026 11:56 am PDT by
Apple provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate versions of iOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4, which means we're going to see a public launch as soon as next week. The RC versions of the software include Apple's official release notes, giving us final details on what's included in the update. Apple Music - Playlist Playground (beta) generates a playlist from your...

Top Rated Comments

pittpanthersfan Avatar
39 months ago
Everyone, I just bought my first AirPods last week, so this is a sure thing.
Score: 36 Votes (Like | Disagree)
vegetassj4 Avatar
39 months ago
AirPods Ultra or nothing:



Attachment Image
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
39 months ago
AirPods Pro with USB-C? 🤞
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️ Avatar
39 months ago
Wow! That's interesting! Hopefully, it's coming with a USB-C AirPods Pro case.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
39 months ago

Everyone, I just bought my first AirPods last week, so this is a sure thing.
Thank you for your service!
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cmChimera Avatar
39 months ago
Are these base model AirPods or can we tell? Could they be AirPods Max?
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Related Apple News: Education | Business | News | Mac | Local News