Apple's refreshed AirPods Pro reportedly won't arrive until the second half of 2020 at the earliest

Midnight Green iPhone 11 Pro, AirPods Pro, and Apple Watch Series 5 Edition Space Black Titanium with JUUK Rainbow Ligero Band (Image credit: Christine Romero-Chan / iMore)

What you need to know

Apple's AirPods Pro may be due a refresh.
The company will reportedly hold off until the 2nd half of 2020.
And that's at the earliest.

Apple won't refresh its AirPods Pro wireless earbuds until later in 2020, according to a teased DigiTimes report. A more lengthy report is expected to arrive tomorrow.

According to the teaser, Apple will "likely defer" the launch of new AirPods Pro until the second half of 2020 at the earliest. It's also possible we will have to wait as long as 2021 according to "sources at related suppliers".

We've recently heard news of new AirPods arriving as soon as next month, but they'll be a replacement for the standard earbuds. AirPods Pro haven't had a refresh since they were first released in October 2019.

All of Apple's 2020 plans are now up in the air given the coronavirus pandemic. Not only is that impacting Apple's supply chain but the company must also decide whether the market will bear such a move. After all, how large is the market for $250 earbuds right now?

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.