This is Rumor Replay, a weekly column at 9to5Mac offering a quick rundown of the most recent Apple product rumors, with analysis and commentary. Today: Apple Glasses, next-gen AirPods rumors, HomePod Touch pricing and models, and more. Here are this week’s Apple rumors.
Apple Glasses could one day run visionOS in two different modes
Over the weekend, Mark Gurman at Bloomberg shared a couple fascinating details about what to expect from future Apple Glasses products.
He said that Apple’s smart glasses are “likely to run the Vision Pro’s operating system, visionOS.”
And per his sources, a future glasses product “could operate the full version of [visionOS] when it’s paired with a Mac, and then switch to a lighter, more mobile-friendly interface when it’s linked to an iPhone.”
My takeaways
Ever since it became clear that Apple Glasses were a higher priority inside Apple than Vision Pro, I wondered how the two products lines might converge in the short and long-term.
The idea of having future Apple Glasses run a stripped down visionOS while on the go, and a more full-fledged version when connected to a Mac, makes so much sense to me.
If this is what Apple truly has in mind for the future, I’m more excited than ever for the new line of glasses products to arrive.
H3 chip and AirPods 5 in the works
Mark Gurman reported this week that AirPods 5 are in the works inside Apple, but he doesn’t expect them to gain AirPods Pro 3’s heart rate monitoring feature. He does mention, however, that Apple intends to bring several other health features to AirPods over time—like temperature sensing.
There’s also reportedly still an H3 chip in development, despite Apple opting to stick with the H2 for AirPods Pro 3. Gurman says the H3 is being designed for “less lag time and better audio quality.”
My takeaways
These latest AirPods rumors are pretty light on details. As an AirPods Pro user, my biggest question has to do with the timing of the H3 chip.
Gurman reinforces his prior claim that Apple plans to equip future AirPods with cameras. Ming-Chi Kuo has said that’s happening in 2026 with the next AirPods Pro model. But despite Gurman highlighting potential features of the H3 chip, he doesn’t tie that chip with Apple’s camera and AI ambitions for AirPods.
HomePod Touch pricing and two models
Bloomberg provided an update this week on the long-anticipated ‘HomePod Touch’ device that is expected to launch next spring.
Most noteworthy was an estimated target price of $350, and the existence of two separate versions of the product.
Per Mark Gurman:
One, code-named J490, has the display mounted on a speaker base. It resembles a screen-equipped version of the HomePod mini. The second, dubbed J491, is designed to be hung on a wall. Development of the wall-mounted version wrapped up after work on the standard tabletop model.
My takeaways
$350 is a bit higher than I was expecting based on prior reports. Gurman does note that Apple’s operations teams have been exploring ways to get the cost down. Depending on the final details, a $299 price point would be more in line with what I’d hoped for.
The existence of two separate versions is interesting, especially because it implies there could be a detachable speaker component. I wonder if Apple might sell the wall-mounted version at a lower price, and make the speaker an optional add-on base.
New Apple external display features
This week brought a pair of hints around new features that may be coming to Apple’s upcoming external displays.
Code references discovered in macOS 26.1 beta 3 revealed that the next Pro Display XDR will likely have a built-in Center Stage camera. The original Pro Display XDR somewhat infamously included no camera, despite its $5,000 price tag.
Additionally, Apple curiously gave the M5 iPad Pro support for driving an external display at 120Hz. This might be a sign that its forthcoming Studio Display will support a higher refresh rate too.
My takeaways
It’s becoming pretty clear that not one, but two new Apple external displays are in the pipeline. Though rumors around features remain minimal, these two updates are in line with what might generally be expected.
While I was hoping for a display launch alongside the M5 MacBook Pro and iPad Pro this week, early 2026 now seems likely—presumably whenever the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips are ready.
What are your takeaways from the latest rumors about Apple Glasses, AirPods, and more? Let us know in the comments.
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