Apple’s AirPods may one day be more than just a way to drown out the hustle and bustle of Starbucks while listening to your favorite tunes.
The latest edition of his “Power On” newsletter (via MacRumors)(opens in new tab)), Apple expert Mark Gurman claims that Apple is considering turning AirPods into health tools “within the next year or two.”
In that case, Gurman said the AirPods could have “the ability to capture some auditory data.”
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It’s not as detailed as possible, but it makes sense given that Apple is building health-related features into its other wearable, the Apple Watch.(opens in new tab)can monitor the user’s heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, and even check for irregular heart rhythms.
Gourmand’s predictions are in line with those of Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.(opens in new tab) In 2021, Apple is adding health tracking features to AirPods.
Apple’s patents give us some clues as to what this feature might look like. One of them, first granted in 2014, explains:(opens in new tab) Add temperature, heart rate, and sweat level sensors to your AirPods. It’s also easy to imagine AirPods becoming a kind of hearing aid. AirPods already have a feature called Conversation Boost(opens in new tab) This allows you to distinguish someone’s speech from background noise.
