iPhone 7: Apple to unveil new wireless Beats alongside phone without headphone jack, leaked email suggests

The new phone will require people either to plug in through the Lightning port or use Bluetooth – making millions of headphones all but obsolete

An Apple Store employee tries on a pair of headphones during a press preview of the new flagship Apple Store on May 19, 2016 in San Francisco, California (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Apple might have accidentally revealed that new Beats headphones are going to be launched alongside the iPhone 7.

The apparent leak is given extra importance because of the fact that wireless headphones of the kind Beats makes are going to be central to the new iPhone. All rumours suggest that Apple is getting rid of the traditional headphone jack – meaning that users will either have to plug themselves into the Lightning port on the bottom of the phone, or use Bluetooth technology.

Read our iPhone 7 launch liveblog here

It isn’t clear whether the new headphones will be Bluetooth, as most of Beats’ products already are, or whether they will also be introducing new headphones built for the Lightning port.

It’s also not clear whether they will be the sometimes rumoured AirPod headphones that have been rumoured to be launching alongside the iPhone. Apple is said to be making those itself – but it may be leaning on Beats, which it bought in 2014, for its previous work in wireless headphones.

The new leak comes from an email that was apparently sent out by Beats’ PR team to French-speaking journalists. It consisted of an invite to the 7 September event – but also made reference to Beats products that haven’t been mentioned before.

The subject line of the apparent message reads “Apple Keynote”, as one might expect. But then it goes on: “Discover new products from Beats by Dre”, it says in French.

The body of the email then tells people who love technology to tune in to an event that can’t be missed. That’s in part because there’ll be a selection of new products from Beats by Dre that will be revealed at the event, it says.

The email then includes the same invitation that was sent out to press last week, inviting them to the event on 7 September.