The One Feature I Wish Apple Would Add To All New AirPods

On a recent flight from New York to Los Angeles, I kept my AirPods Pro 2 in my pocket (one of my go-to earbuds for flights; so are these) and used Jabra’s new Elite 8 Active Gen 2 earbuds instead. While Jabra’s upgraded Elite 8 Active buds (and new Elite 10 Gen 2) don’t look any different from the originals, they include a rather useful new feature: Their case turns into a Bluetooth transmitter to wirelessly stream the audio from JetBlue’s inflight entertainment system to the Elite 8 Active.

A few true wireless earbuds, including the Bowers & Wilkins Pi7 S2 and Poly Voyager Free 60 Plus have charging cases that act as Bluetooth transmitters. With the included cable, you simply connect the case to the 3.5mm port in your seat’s console or armrest and you’re good to go.

I had to read the instructions a couple of times to connect the Elite 8 Active’s case to JetBlue’s inflight entertainment system, but it’s a pretty straightforward process. Once the buds were connected to the case, I had no performance issues — the audio and video were synched perfectly, and there was no audio lag. I also didn’t have to unplug my headphones every time I needed to get out of my seat or let someone in my row get up and out.

As you can see from the photo above, It’s not the most elegant solution, but it allows you to use your wireless buds to watch inflight entertainment without having to carry around a second pair of headphones to use wired. Alternatively, you could buy a Bluetooth wireless audio transmitter. Twelve South makes the popular AirFly Pro ($55) and there are plenty of other options on Amazon. But it seems like we’re at the point where more premium earbuds should have the Bluetooth transmitter feature built into their charging cases.

Read more: Twelve South AirFly Pro Bluetooth Transmitter Review: Don’t Fly Without It

Is this a feature that Apple will ever give us?

Apple keeps adding new features to the AirPods, particularly the AirPods Pro 2, which are equipped with the company’s more powerful H2 chip, making them capable of plenty of new tricks. Last year, Apple added Adaptive Audio and Conversation Awareness, and with the release of iOS 18 this fall, the AirPods Pro 2 will get a few new features, including head gesture controls for answering and ending calls, Voice Isolation to improve voice call quality and Personalized Spatial Audio for gaming.

While I appreciate those upgrades, I’d still like to be able to use my AirPods Pro 2 with inflight entertainment systems. Most of them still don’t offer Bluetooth connectivity, and devices like treadmills and elliptical machines may have a headphone port for watching content on their integrated display but often no Bluetooth option.

On one level, adding a Bluetooth transmitter option to future AirPods cases seems like a no-brainer, especially since I expect we’ll see the feature added to more non-Apple earbuds as “smart” LE Audio charging cases become more common.

That said, Apple isn’t big on cables. The AirPods Max, for example, don’t come with a headphone cable. Uou have to buy it separately for $35 (yes, that means you can’t use the AirPods Max with an inflight entertainment system unless you purchase that cable or a Bluetooth transmitter).

Also read: Best Travel Headphones

Apple doesn’t comment on future products or features, so I don’t know what its thoughts are on all this, but I do wonder what Apple execs think when they can’t use their AirPods with the vast majority of inflight entertainment systems. In business class, airlines often lend you noise-canceling headphones. But as I said, those flying economy class have to use their own wired headphones or get whatever cheap buds the airline is handing out (which may or may not be free).

I suspect Apple thinks this is a temporary problem. In the future, most inflight entertainment systems and gym cardio equipment will have Bluetooth connectivity (fellow editor Josh Goldman noted that a new Boeing 737 Max he flew on had Bluetooth connectivity, but his return flight didn’t). While that may be true, that future seems like years away, so I still hope Apple will come up with a near-term solution.

Rumors of future AirPods with touchscreens in their cases

Interestingly, there’ve been some rumors that the AirPods 4 case might get a display that acts as a remote control for playback and maybe even snapping photos on your iPhone. Apple filed a patent for a case with an interactive touchscreen, according to MacRumors, and several AirPods Pro 2 knockoffs with touchscreens have shown up on Amazon in recent months. Also, JBL has released three new Live 3 earbuds, including the LIve Beam 3, as a follow-up to last year’s Tour Pro 2 earbuds, which featured a color touchscreen in their case. All the new Live 3 models feature a 1.45-inch LED touch display in their charging cases.

Having a touchscreen in an AirPods case would make activating the Bluetooth transmitter feature even easier. You’d still have a USB-C-to-3.5mm cord sticking out of the case, but you could just turn on the transmitter mode from a menu on the case’s touchscreen.

Come September, we should learn what’s next for the AirPods. Back in March, Apple tipster and Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman wrote that Apple suppliers were getting ready to produce millions of new fourth-gen AirPods this May, ahead of an anticipated launch this fall alongside the next iPhone, which will presumably be called the iPhone 16.

One of the new AirPods models is supposed to be the successor to the AirPods 3, which features an open design. The other may be a more affordable noise-canceling model that’s a step down from the AirPods Pro 2. While the focus may be on the buds themselves, the real innovations going forward may be their charging cases.