Amber Neely
According to Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple will be adding a budget model to its AirPods lineup by late 2024 at the earliest.
Analysts have recently suggested that Apple may develop a lite version of its AirPods to compete against cheaper wireless earbuds.
Kuo took to Twitter on Wednesday night to outline a timeline for the budget earbuds, stating that he believes they'll begin shipping in the second half of 2024 or the first half of 2025. He stated that they will be priced under $100.
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— (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) January 12, 2023,
The next-generation AirPods will likely begin mass shipments in 2H24 or 1H25, including more affordable AirPods (with Apple targeting a price of $99) and new AirPods Max, which will be assembled by Luxshare ICT and Hon Teng.
He also claimed that Apple would release the second generation of its high-end AirPods Max, which were initially launched in late 2020.
Kuo has also recently predicted that Apple will debut its new mixed-reality headset in spring of 2023.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
11 Comments
Does Apple ever pursue the “cheap” end of the market?
You know, it behooves everyone not to believe any of these rumors that are 2 years out. It's ridiculous. If it was say, 6 months out, believable as mass production contracts would have been signed and started. 24 months out? It's just ideas people are floating around. Some engineering work is being done to kick the tires, or prove out concepts and such. That's a very long way from being committed with hundreds of billions of dollars and getting the supply chain ramped up for mass production.