There May Be No New AirPods This Year as Apple Shifts Production

If recent rumours from the supply chain are to be believed, this may turn out to be a pretty uneventful year for Apple’s AirPods.

Although rumours about Apple’s plans for its lineup of audio wearables have been all over the place in recent months, it seems that analysts are now expecting that few to none of them will come to fruition this year. We’ve already heard that the second-generation AirPods Pro will likely slip into 2021, and now it looks like we probably won’t see a new version of the standard AirPods this fall either.

Citing problems due to the global health crisis, Nikkei Asian Review says that any updates to Apple’s AirPods have been pushed back into early 2021. The reports notes several more specific reasons for this, such as lower demand for the wearables as a result of most of Apple’s stores still being closed around the world, plus changes to Apple’s supply chain that would see it moving some of its AirPods production out of China.

There have been a wealth of rumours over the past few months pertaining to Apple’s plans in this area, ranging from reports of an imminent release of long-awaited Apple-branded over-ear headphones to a variety of reports about new AirPods, new AirPods Pro, and something called “AirPods Pro Lite,” and while there’s still no word on what may be going on with the full headphones, it does seem clear that any updates to Apple’s earbuds will be incremental to non-existent.

In fact, it looks like the only updates we may see are among Apple’s Beats brand. We’ve recently seen indications that that Apple may be poised to release a new PowerBeats Pro model, however all indications are that these will just be a minor tweak.

Similarly, rumours around the AirPods X have suggested that they could be an Apple-branded version of the BeatsX, however this was also based on the assumption that Apple was looking to phase out its Beats division — a move that makes no sense for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the extreme popularity of the brand among consumers that wouldn’t otherwise buy an “Apple” product.

In fact, veteran Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has offered up the suggestion that the “AirPods Pro Lite” predicted earlier this year are actually more likely to be a new Beats product, which could mean that they are in fact the rumoured “AirPods X” and therefore actually a new version of the actual BeatsX. These have been pegged for a fall release, which doesn’t seem out of the question, although like PowerBeats Pro, they’re likely to be a modest tweak that may do little more than add Apple’s new H1 chip, much like the new Powerbeats did earlier this year.

Moving Production

The Nikkei report also adds that Apple is already preparing to move much of its AirPods production out of China, and into Vietnam to attempt to diversify its supply chain further in the midst of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier this year, before the outbreak made its way out of China and became a full-fledged pandemic, there were reports that Apple’s supply chain was having problems keep up with AirPods demand, and by mid-February it was getting hard to find them anywhere. While Nikkei has suggested that demand for the AirPods has been impacted by the global health crisis, it’s also possible that this is at least partially a function of supply and not merely a result of Apple’s stores being shuttered right now.

That said, Apple did tell its suppliers to lower AirPods production for the first half of 2020, although this also could be part of the company’s plans to shift production to Vietnam, and it’s certainly an opportune time to make the move while Apple doesn’t have to worry about keeping AirPods on the shelves in its stores; presumably by the time Apple gets all of its stores reopened, AirPods production should be up and running in its new Vietnamese supply chain.

AirPods Timeline

Apple also likely isn’t in a huge hurry to release updated AirPods models. Unlike iPhones, where consumers expect new models each year with bigger changes, there’s not nearly as much that can be done to improve AirPods, so any changes are likely going to be incremental anyway.

Further, notwithstanding the current demand issues, which are obviously simply part of the current season that we’re living in, Apple has never had a problem selling its AirPods. In fact, Apple usually has a problem keeping them on the shelves due to their insane popularity. When Apple released its original AirPods in 2016, they continued selling like hotcakes for well over two years before Apple released the second-generation model in March 2019, and then Apple upped its game by bringing out the more premium AirPods Pro later last year, so with two strong AirPods models on the market right now, it seems unlikely that Apple needs to worry too much about updating them just to keep sales going.

On the other hand, focusing on updating its Beats lineup makes a lot more sense, since thus far Apple has only added its newest H1 chip to three of the five wireless headphones in its lineup, and one of these — the Powerbeats Pro — is an entirely new product. While Apple is likely waiting to update to the over-ear Beats Studio3 until it releases its own over-ear headphones — which we have every reason to believe are still coming this year — there’s little reason not to bring the BeatsX in line, which seems to dovetail with the current rumours about the “AirPods X” more likely being a new Beats product.

In the end, we’ll have to wait and see what Apple’s plans are, but it seems like a safe bet that if you’re holding out to see what Apple does before pulling the trigger on a set of AirPods, you’re probably better off buying and enjoying what Apple has available now rather than waiting for an uncertain future.

[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]