According to Jeff Pu, an authoritative analyst who mainly follows the companies that are part of Apple’s supply chain, the Cupertino company may have announced a “cheap” version of the AirPods by the end of the year.
Foxconn, according to a note shared with investment firm Haitong International Securities, is expected to be one of the main suppliers of these low-cost AirPods that will likely be assembled in one of its Indian factories starting in the fourth quarter of 2024.
In recent weeks, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman had said that Apple would be planning to launch two models of the fourth generation of AirPods, expected between September and October, with one “entry-level” and one “mid-range”. According to Gurman, both are expected to have a new design, better audio quality, and a revamped charging case with a USB-C port.
The mid-range version is also expected to have an active ambient noise suppression system and a small speaker in the charging case, similar to the one found on the AirPods Pro 2, to facilitate location via “Find My Device”. While very likely, it’s still unclear whether these “cheap” AirPods mentioned by Pu are actually the “entry-level” that Gurman talked about.
Jeff Pu also predicted that an updated version of the AirPods Max will be released by Apple in the fourth quarter of 2024. According to Gurman, the only new feature in these headphones will be the USB-C charging port as well as new color variants.
