Earpods have been a staple feature that have been included with iPhones since the iPhone 5 first launched with them bundled in back in 2012. Now it looks like the iconic earbuds will be dropped in favor of pushing the completely wireless AirPods. However it’s unlikely that we’ll see AirPods coming free with the iPhone 12 given the price disparity between the EarPods, which currently retail for $30 separately, and the AirPods which start at $159 (opens in new tab). At best, we might see a bundle deal that costs less than the iPhone 12 and AirPods would separately. It’s not all doom and gloom though, as Ming-Chi Kuo does also suggest that Apple will be offering deep discounts on AirPods this holiday season to help iPhone users ease into the transition. It’s a real shame to see EarPods dropping out of the box, but it’s not entirely unexpected. Apple made waves back with the iPhone 7 when it removed the standard headphone jack in favor of a USB-C connection, meaning you needed to buy an adapter or use Apple’s EarPods if you wanted headphones for your iPhone. At the same time, other companies have already dropped headphones from their phones to save on costs, such as Google who no longer includes headphones with its Google Pixel line, including the Google Pixel 4XL (opens in new tab). Google claims this is because most people don’t use them, favoring their own selection of the best headphones (opens in new tab) like the Bowers & Wilkins PX (opens in new tab). We don’t have any official word on when the iPhone 12 will be launching, but the signs point to October this year. In a private conference call to investors (opens in new tab), Apple’s largest manufacturing partner Foxconn told investors that it was on track for a fall release, though that schedule may since have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. In the meantime though, you can still grab the current models, the iPhone 11 (opens in new tab) and iPhone 11 Pro (opens in new tab) which are both among the best smartphones (opens in new tab) on the market.
