Apple is widely expected to announce the iPhone 16 series of smartphones today at an event in California but the company could have a surprise product up its sleeve too. As usual, the September showcase will be streamed live and you can watch it for free online. Apple is rumoured to also be unveiling at least one new Apple Watch and a set of in-ear AirPods as the tech giant boosts its wildly popular gadgets with design and spec updates.

Also taking centre stage will be AI. Apple’s main smartphone rival Samsung has been pouring artificial intelligence tools into its latest handsets such as the Galaxy S24, with features that allow owners to summarise long emails in bullet points, erase unwanted objects from photos, and create images from text prompts.

Apple’s version of AI for the iPhone, iPad and Mac will be called Apple Intelligence, and as the company confirmed back in June, it will do many of the same things Samsung and Google’s AI can do, with the benefit for Apple fans that it will tap into all your favourite apps and include an updated, smarter Siri.

While rumours on the new iPhone 16 have been hotting up, one fan-favourite Apple product that wasn’t expected to get an update may actually be getting one. Apple’s priciest headphones, the AirPods Max, originally launched way back in 2020. The instantly recognisable metal headphones have proven very popular despite their high price of £549 thanks to great noise cancellation and top sound quality.

But fans and reviewers criticised the odd carry case that barely protects the heavy cans, plus the fact you can pick up headphones just as good from rivals such as Sony or Bose for hundreds of pounds less.

Bloomberg Apple reporter Mark Gurman posted on X on Sunday that he now expects Apple to announce an updated version of AirPods Max today “with better noise cancellation, adaptive audio & USB-C”, he said:

It was thought Apple could announce two sets of new AirPods but Gurman previously said these would be two cheaper entry-level earbud sets to replace the ageing AirPods second- and third-generation. It’s now not clear if there will be just one new in-ear AirPods announced alongside these new high-end AirPods Max, or three AirPods products overall.

The current four-year-old AirPods Max charge via Lightning rather than the USB-C now found on all new iPhones and iPads. The expensive headphones also haven’t got the adaptive audio updates that have made their way onto Apple’s AirPods Pro. If Gurman is correct, this update would aim to fix those shortcomings.