A new leak claims to show images of the Beats Solo 4, the next generation of Apple’s very old headphones: The Beats Solo 3 has been around since 2016 with only a few minor color changes since then.
We really liked the Beats Solo 3 at the time, but a lot has changed in the world of best wireless headphones since they launched the same year as the first generation of AirPods. We’ve had two more generations of AirPods since then, two more AirPods Pro and the AirPods Max, and AirPods 4 and AirPods Max 2 are expected to arrive soon. So it’s fair to say that this Beats Solo upgrade is somewhat overdue.
Although full specifications are not yet known, one feature we hope to see in the new version is the same high battery life as the Beats Solo 3: up to 40 hours.
Beats Solo 4: what to expect
According to code in the latest iOS release candidate and reported by MacRumorsthe new Beats Solo 4 will have a nearly identical design to the current model, but will introduce Dolby Atmos spatial audio, lossless USB-C audio (something the AirPods Max notably doesn’t currently offer), and other improvements including better sound quality and the same personalized spatial audio as the current AirPods Pro 2.
The on-ear controls will be the same as those in the Beats Studio Pro, meaning you’ll need to press the B symbol to play, pause, or answer calls; double-click to skip songs; and long press to activate Siri.
There is also a video X/Twitter, although it doesn’t really show much: it’s just a short clip of black Beats headphones spinning around. But images in the iOS package appear to confirm black, pink and blue models.
There’s no indication yet when these headphones will ship or what they’ll cost, although their presence on iOS suggests a launch isn’t far away. The current Beats Studio 3 has a suggested retail price of $349.95, and if you’re still in the mood for a pair, you definitely shouldn’t pay anywhere near that: they’re regularly among the best headphone deals from multiple retailers, and you can still expect more discounts when the new version ships. Although at this point we’d probably suggest sticking with the newer model.