Apple's AirPods 3 could be an alternative to the company's Apple Watch, with a built-in light sensor to monitor health.

Industry sources told DigiTimes that the next generation of AirPods will include an ambient light sensor (ALS) within one to two years. The sensor would then allow the wireless headphones to monitor heart rate and health, and help supplement other health and fitness-related data such as step count.

ALS can detect heart rate by emitting infrared scans on the skin and monitoring changes in light bounced off blood cells in the body. By sensing changes in blood vessel volume as blood cells pass through blood vessels, heart rate can be detected and, when combined with additional data, other health conditions can be estimated.

Currently, the AirPods 3 are expected to arrive in late 2021, at least according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo at the Apple Oracle. We had assumed that AirPods 3 would appear in the second half of this year, around the same time as the iPhone 12 launch, but that doesn't seem very likely. [If DigiTimes' sources are correct, the timing of the addition of ALS to future AirPods would also coincide with the AirPods 3 release date. In other words, the AirPods 3 will include new health and fitness-focused features that will help it compete with impressive rivals like the Google Pixel Buds 2 and Samsung Galaxy Buds Plus.

Apple has previously filed a patent for health monitoring in earbuds, so it would not be surprising to see health-related features added to the next generation AirPods. After all, the company has already had a lot of success with health and wellness features on the Apple Watch and is expected to build on that with the Apple Watch 6.

The next set of headphones expected to come out of Cupertino will likely be the AirPods Studio. Mass production of these over-the-ear headphones is apparently underway and is expected to appear next month in conjunction with Apple's all-digital event, WWDC 2020.