Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo revealed in his latest investor note that Apple is working on $19 AirPods. The company will launch affordable earphones in the second half of the 2024 year, and may even be delayed further into the first half of the 2024 year. Around the same time, we’ll also see the second-generation AirPods Max — Apple’s wireless over-ear headphones.
The Cupertino team is currently changing the AirPods assembly supplier, Kuo added. Foxconn subsidiary Hongteng (FIT) is taking over Goertek, which will bring “significant benefits” to the company. It will also share the assembly process for AirPods Max manufacturing with Luxshare ICT.
Currently, the most affordable AirPods are the 2nd generation version for £159*)/$139/€139. To keep the price down, Apple may cut some features, such as the Apple H1 chip. It’s also possible that AirPods could be relaunched with a new moniker, similar to how Apple redesigned its discontinued iPhones to create a second-generation iPhone SE.
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