Apple is widely expected to revamp its AirPods lineup later this year with multiple new models. In a new note to investors on Monday, analyst Jeff Poe confirmed those expectations and said that Apple will release new, lower-cost AirPods Lite sometime during the second half of 2024.
Pu also confirms that new AirPods Max will be coming later this year.
AirPods Lite
Pu explains in the report that AirPods production will increase later this year “thanks to the launch of a lower-cost model.” Pu's report generally focuses on the impact of AirPods production on the overall supply chain for Apple and its partners. In total, Pu says AirPods volume will decline 4% year over year in 2024 to 55 million units due to “weak demand for existing models.”
Pu doesn't offer any specific details about what to expect from these low-cost AirPods, which he refers to as “AirPods Lite.” Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also reported that Apple is working on a lower-cost version of the AirPods that will be released in 2024. Kuo suggested that the so-called “AirPods Lite” could be priced up to $99
Bloomberg Mark Gurman has repeatedly reported that Apple plans to introduce the AirPods 4 this year in two different models. Both AirPods 4 models are expected to feature a new design and a USB-C charging case, but only the higher-end version will support features like noise cancellation.
As we've pointed out in the past, it's unclear whether Pu and Kuo are referring to the same low-end version of the AirPods 4 as Bloomberg, or a completely different product, is not clear. Presumably, we will learn more as the year progresses.
Apple currently sells five different versions of AirPods:
Follow the opportunity: Threads, Twitter, InstagramAnd Mastodon.
FTC: We use automatic affiliate links to earn income. more.