According to a new report from Nikkei Asia, Apple is decreasing AirPods production by 25% to 30% due to a slowdown in sales as a result of increased competition in the wireless earphone market.
AirPods and AirPods Pro are expected to be upgraded this year, which Apple hopes will “stimulate sales,” according to the report.
Apple now expects to make between 75 million and 85 million units for 2021, compared with a previous production forecast of 110 million units.
“The most significant order reduction is for the second quarter toward the start of the third quarter,” said one of the people familiar with the matter. “The levels of inventory [in warehouses] and in-store stocks of AirPods are currently high … and demand is not as strong as expected.”
MacDailyNews Take: The report does not stipulate which AirPods model(s) are seeing production order decreases, but, if we had to guess, we’d guess its the entry-level AirPods model, not AirPods Pro, are seeing lower sales. Apple is expected to release new a AirPods model (third generation) with a shorter-stem design, similar to the current AirPods Pro, but at a lower price as AirPods (3rd gen.) won’t offer active noise reduction.