Apple acquired Beats back in 2014, and its certainly been interesting to watch Apples varying decisions over the years. For the most part, the Beats brand has stayed completely intact. Beats Music was replaced with Apple Music, and the Beats 1 radio station on Apple Music was subsequently rebranded.Obviously, Apple has continued to release new Beats headphones over the years. More recently, though, Apple has begun to do something very fascinating. Its now positioning Beats as an accessory brand.A lot of people may have missed this, but during the iPhone 16 launch, Apple did something a little peculiar. It released a new $49 hard plastic case. This wasnt an Apple case though, and instead Beats made it.It was actually a pretty decent case. I reviewed it, and liked it a fair bit. I just wish it wasnt $49 for whats essentially just plastic, but Apple loves releasing premium-priced accessories, so I shouldnt have been too surprised.Apple even took it a step further by announcing additional colors and a new design for the Beats case for iPhone 16 back in December.Now, according to MacRumors, Apple is preparing to launch new Beats charging cables. Theyre apparently going to come in a number of colors, and therell be a few variants: USB-C to USB-C, USB-C to Lightning, and USB-A to USB-C.This is pretty interesting, for two reasons:Apple has never made a USB-A to USB-C cable until nowand, Apple has been pretty hesitant to openly releasing colored cables; though it does bundle colored cables with the 24 iMacThese cables will apparently come in around $20 USD for a 5-foot variant, making it slightly cheaper than Apples offerings.Since these cables arent out yet, I cant say anything about their quality. However, I do personally think Apples new endeavor of releasing cheaper accessories under the Beats brand is quite fascinating.Will this endeavor continue to evolve? Who knows. I do think a Beats-branded battery bank could be an interesting concept, for example, since Apple no longer sells their own.What do you think about Apples recent moves with Beats? Let us know in the comments.My favorite Apple accessories on Amazon:Follow Michael:X/Twitter,Bluesky,InstagramAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel