Apple iPhone 6 Rumors: New Headphones With Biometric Sensors Possibly Coming With iOS 8

On the popular gossip-sharing app Secret, a supposed ex-Apple employee divulged some information about Apple’s next iPhone headphones that seems to jibe with patents the company has filed.

Apple's new EarPods will have sensors in them, for heart rate & blood pressure. Also iBeacons so they don't get lost. They will require the lightning port, it's why the audio jack was moved to the bottom.

The anonymous poster turned to the comments to expound on the purported claim, which has yet to be confirmed.

It stores the data in a similar way to thumbprint point data, fully encrypted and nothing identifiable. But nice to send to your doctor to keep track of at which point your blood pressure started rising for example.

While the claims may be completely false, patents Apple has filed in the past lend support to the credibility of the claim. In 2007, Apple filed a patent for accessory sensors that could collect biometric data.

The confessor also stated that the in-line remote might gain a second microphone to enhance noise cancellation. Current noise-cancelling headphones require multiple mics to determine which noise to remove. One mic picks up ambient noise, like street traffic or car engines, while the second mic picks up your voice. Some versions, like the Jawbone Bluetooth headset, use vibrations from a user's face as an input as well, taking the level of accuracy even further.

This rumor comes at a time when Apple sensors are being discussed heavily. Last week, Appleinsider reported on a sensor that can detect pressure (like a barometer), humidity, temperature and sound. The supposed sensor was linked to the development of Apple’s first wearable smartwatch, the iWatch. However, those claims are, again, just rumors, as Apple is notoriously tight-lipped about future products.

The disgruntled ex-employee gave a release date around the same time as “when iOS 8 drops.” The person went on, when questioned by other Secret users, as to why they are leaking the information, responding that they “hate being manipulated.”

The Secret app has been used in the past to leak information from other companies, but due to the anonymous nature of the app, the claims cannot be seen as anything further than yet another rumor surrounding Apple’s next iPhone, the iPhone 6. Other rumors include the next iterations coming in two sizes, a 4.7-inch model and a 5.5-inch model, the latter of which will most likely arrive in 2015. The iPhone 6 is speculated to launch in September 2014.