Apple is bringing "Hey Siri" to second generation AirPods

[Greg S]

Something to look forward to: After hearing about new AirPods for months, Apple is getting closer to launching a new set of premium wireless earbuds. Instead of the awkward tap to access Siri, the next generation will support "Hey Siri" for touch-free activation of the assistant.

Rumors of second generation AirPods are still running rampant. In the latest discovery, a prompt to setup "Hey Siri" for AirPods was found in the iOS 12.2 beta. As clear as day, Apple is presenting a means of calling up the digital assistant from AirPods.

In a report published Wednesday by Digitimes, Apple is alleged to be releasing AirPods 2 during the first half of this year. Bloomberg has also reported that new AirPods are arriving in 2019 as well as the addition of over-ear headphones with noise-cancellation that may compete against Bose, Sony, Sennheiser, and Microsoft's offerings. Most recently, industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted that new AirPods could be launched during the first quarter of 2019.

Image Credit: 9to5Mac

Given that Apple has included support for "Hey Siri" in its latest iOS version, it seems that next generation AirPods are well on their way to launch. Aside from new voice interactions, Apple has also held discussions on adding biometric sensors to AirPods, including heart rate monitoring. Bluetooth 5.0 will bring dual audio streams to next generation AirPods. Improved water resistance is also expected.

It is believed that Cirrus Logic has been providing support to the development on AirPods 2. As a company that holds more than 30 years of experience in noise-cancellation technologies and has numerous audio converters, codecs, signal processing chips, and MEMS microphones in its portfolio, it is clear why Apple chose Cirrus as a partner. It is unknown at this time whether Cirrus has also provided any components or design expertise towards over-ear headphones.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/78439-apple-bringing-hey-siri-second-generation-airpods.html

 

[IAMTHESTIG]

That is total crap Apple this should have been an OPTION (meaning have it on or off) since the beginning of Siri for ANY connected mic, whether it be wired headphones with a mic, BT headphones, speakers, or vehicle entertainment system with a mic. There is no reason why it shouldn't have included that functionality, and the fact that Siri doesn't almost entirely defeats the purpose of Siri when using connected headphones or devices.

The only thing Apple's Siri has over Google's AI is that it can be used from the lock screen.

Now Apple needs to incorporate voice recognition, where it actually knows your voice. Otherwise you'll have several people' smartphones in hearing range who are using these Airpods all respond then one person says "hey Siri".

 

[ShagnWagn]

 

[ckm88]

Despite the memes, I like the AirPods - especially at the gym. Cords dont get in the way and won't continiously get pulled so I can focus on pumping dat iron.

 

[Fearghast]

Hey Siri!
Can any Apple heaphones sound decent?
Nope.

When even 20$ TWS headphones sounds a lot better, you have a really huge problem. Well you do not have, because Airpods sounds like hotcakes to a blind crowd, but anyone who can compare them to a competition avoids them like a plague.