(Image credit: Matt Kollat)

For many years now, the AirPods Pro have represented the pinnacle of the brand's earbud offering. That platform has debuted its newest and brightest features, like the introduction of Live Translation via Apple Intelligence last time out.

Now, many rumours are suggesting that the 'Pro' moniker may soon play second fiddle to a pair of earbuds dubbed the AirPods Ultra. That's the model with built-in cameras, which has been the subject of leaks for a long time.

The idea, it seems, is that the AirPods Ultra will pack in IR cameras to enhance AI-powered experiences with visual intelligence. It could support hand gestures, for example, to allow for an almost VR-like experience, without the need for a big device on your face.

So, why the Ultra branding? Well, that's more of an educated guess at the moment, but it's one that certainly makes some sense.

As suggested by 9to5Mac, the brand looks set to go all in on the Ultra branding this autumn, with the foldable iPhone and the redesigned MacBook expected to come to market as the iPhone Ultra and the MacBook Ultra, respectively.

With that in mind, the report suggests that a new pair of AirPods called the AirPods Ultra would fit in well. It's not wrong, either, and would even go further as an explanation of the rumoured delay of the base model iPhone launch.

It has long been reported that the iPhone 18 launch was being pushed back to the spring of 2027, meaning that the Pro-level devices would arrive ahead of the base models. That's never really made any sense, but if the Pro's are being used as a jumping off point for a new Ultra range of devices, the reasoning suddenly looks more sensible.

With only a handful of months to go before the new devices are expected to launch, we shouldn't have to wait long for answers.