The AirPods maker filed the patent in 2021.
Headphone competitor JBL, owned by Samsung, hastouted a similar design, including at this year’s CES.
In recent years, Apple has rolled out a series of Bluetooth-connected earbuds, including theAirPods Pro 2in 2022.
For more, here are our rundowns of thebest Apple AirPodsand thebest wireless earbudsfrom a range of manufacturers.
Apple didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.