A new icon in the iOS 13.2 beta hints at noise-cancelling AirPods

in a week when Microsoft announced an expensive AirPods rival with no noise reduction, a new development has now pointed to Apple's famed earbuds getting that very feature.

A gray-and-white menu icon in the newest iOS 13.2 beta looks a whole lot like AirPods, but with more traditional ear cups on them, like other wired earbuds. Credit goes to 9to5Mac for the find, which was spotted in an accessibility menu.

The consensus around this seems to be that Apple will soon announce new AirPods with these cups on them for a snugger fit in the ear and noise reduction, which is not present in the current AirPods lineup. It's one of the few modern headphone perks that Apple hasn't found a way to fit into its flagship wireless buds yet.

This isn't the first we've heard about Apple possibly adding noise cancellation to AirPods, as rumors have swirled around about it for a while. Sony recently released noise-cancelling wireless earbuds that honestly made AirPods look a little iffy. We love AirPods around here, but at least having the option to drown out the outside world would really make them hard to beat in the wireless earbud game.

It would also make Microsoft's Surface Earbuds look like a slightly more dicey proposition. Announced this week, the Surface Earbuds are a cool $90 more than the current AirPods model and feature no noise reduction at all.

We're not sure when we'll find out if these new anti-social AirPods are real or not. Apple had a hardware event last October, so another one this month isn't out of the question. We will, of course, keep you posted.