1 year ago
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Apple is working on $99 AirPods, revealed analyst Ming-Chi Kuo in his latest investor note. The company will bring the affordable earphones in the second half of 2024 and could even delay them further to the first half of 2025. Around the same time we will also see the second-gen AirPods Max - Apple’s wireless overhead headphones.
The team at Cupertino is currently in the process of changing suppliers for AirPods assembly, Kuo added. Hon Teng (FIT), a Foxconn subsidiary, is taking over from Goertek, which will bring “significant benefits” to the company. It will also share the assembly process with Luxshare ICT for the AirPods Max manufacturing.
Currently, the most affordable AirPods are the 2nd gen version for £139/$129/€159. In order to bring the price down, Apple will likely shave some features like the Apple H1 chip. There’s also the possibility of relaunching the AirPods with a new moniker, similar to how Apple rehashes its discontinued iPhones to create the iPhone SE 2nd gen.
English (US)