Apple is rumored to release a pair of high-end headphones this year — here's everything we know (AAPL)

Apple Beats 5

Apple reportedly plans to release a pair of high-end over-ear headphones in 2019.
These headphones would differ from Apple's Beats line of headphones, and feature Apple branding instead of the Beats logo.
A pair of studio-quality Apple headphones is bound to be successful, for many reasons.

Apple plans to release a pair of high-end over-ear headphones in 2019, to compete with the likes of Bose and Sennheiser.

Last June, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that Apple's over-ear headphones would be separate from the Beats line. (Apple purchased Beats Electronics for $3 billion back in 2014.) A recent Bloomberg report about Sonos in January also reiterated that Apple's plans to release over-ear headphones this year.

Here's what we know.

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo was the first to report on Apple's over-ear headphones back in February 2018.

In his research note (published via MacRumors), Kuo said Apple's high-end headphones will be "as convenient as AirPods with better sound quality."

A Bloomberg report from last June said Apple's over-ear headphones would be separate from the Beats line, and that the company initially planned to release the headphones by the end of 2018, but moved the launch date to early 2019 due to "development challenges."

Source: Bloomberg

It's unclear what issues Apple may have encountered, as we don't know much about the design of the headphones. We do know, however, they will feature an Apple logo instead of the Beats logo, and likely be powered by the new H1 chip that debuted in the second-generation AirPods that launched in March.

The H1 chip is an upgraded version of the W1 chip, which powered the first-generation AirPods and allowed them to instantly connect to other Apple devices.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider