AirPods 3 are reportedly already in production

What you need to know

• Apple's 3rd generation AirPods are reportedly in production.
• The earbuds were missing from yesterday's iPhone 13 event which was a surprise to many.

Could the 3rd generation AirPods be announced through a press release?

Yesterday, Apple hosted its "California Streaming" event where it announced the iPhone 13, Apple Watch Series 7, redesigned iPad mini, and 9th generation iPad.

The iPad and iPad mini were a surprise at the event as those devices were not expected until a later event in October. However, they took the place of another product that many were expecting to be announced yesterday: the 3rd generation AirPods.

When the new AirPods didn't show at the event, many wondered if they had been delayed to a potential October or November event. According to a new report from DigiTimes (via MacRumors), the 3rd generation AirPods have already entered into production.

While third-generation AirPods were not announced at the Apple Event this week, suppliers have already kicked off shipments of the long-awaited headphones, according to industry sources cited by Taiwanese website DigiTimes.

In a paywalled preview of its report, DigiTimes said the shipments have been "slow," but production being underway is a good sign that the third-generation AirPods will likely be released before the end of the year.

The report does not indicate exactly when the new AirPods will be announced. One possible scenario is that Apple will announce them alongside its new MacBook Pro models at an event later this fall. The other is that the company will opt to announce the new wireless earbuds with a press release.

The second option is certainly a possibility as Apple has made quite a new product announcements with press releases lately. Even the AirPods Max over-ear headphones were announced via press release rather than an actual event.