Mass production will begin in the third generation of AirPods in the third quarter of 2021, according to a note from investors by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo who saw MacRumors.
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If mass production is not expected to begin until the third quarter of 2021, it would mean that irAirPods 3 would not be shipped until the end of the year. Kuo previously said in November that the irAirPods 3 would be launched in the first half of 2021 and other rumors suggested that the new irAirPods could arrive as early as this month.
There have been several leaks showing the redesigned AirPods third generation, which usually suggests the launch is near, and Kang, a respectful leaker who often shares accurate information about Apple’s plans, recently said that the AirPods 3 they are “ready to send.” ”
Kuo expects AirPod shipments from the first quarter of 2021 to the third quarter of 2021 to decline by about 25 percent year-on-year to 55 million units. If demand for forAirPods 3 were better than expected, fourth-quarter PAirPods shipments will remain flat year after year at 23 million units. Global shipments of irAirPods across are expected to be reduced to 78 million units by 2021, below the 90 million by 2020.
Kuo says the AirPods Max have offered “limited help” to AirPods shipments, with an annual shipment of approximately one million units.
It is unclear at this time whether PAirPods 2 will stop producing when irAirPods 3 go into mass production. Kuo says Apple has a dilemma: if PAirPods 2 are kept and sold at a lower price, it could affect demand for irAirPods 3, but if there is no low-priced AirPods model, it could have a negative effect on Apple sales.
If AirPods 2 reaches the end of its useful life after the mass production of AirPods 3, we estimate that AirPods 3, AirPods Pro, AirPods 2 and AirPods Max will account for approximately 40%, 28%, 31% and 1 % of total shipments, respectively, in 2021. If AirPods 2 will continue production after the mass production of irAirPods 3, we estimate that AirPods 3, AirPods Pro, irAirPods 2 and irAirPods Max will account for approximately 32%, 28%, % and 1% of total shipments in 2021, respectively.
Kuo attributes the drop in “AirPods” shipments to increased competition and a loss of market share. There are several options of real wireless headphones at a lower price in the market for Apple to fight.
The competitive advantage of Apple products lies in providing ecosystem integration “hardware, software and service”, not just hardware. The iPhone, for example, has seen its market share decline due to the rapid growth of the smartphone market, but has been able to maintain the growth of shipments due to the strong ecosystem of the App Store and developers. We believe that Siri is at the core of irAirPods ‘services and software ecosystem, but since Siri’ s competitive advantage is not significant, the difference between AAirPods ‘and its competitors’ vanguard is narrowed due to the lack of ecosystem protection, as competitors gradually improve their user experience and launch lower pricing strategies at the same time. We believe that the HomePod and HomePod mini shipments were significantly lower than expected for the same reason.
IrAirPods have fast pairing and fast switching features that give them an advantage over competitors, but Kuo says these advantages are “gradually offset” by improved user experiences and lower prices offered by competitors. .
In terms of high quality, while the low latency of irAirPods Pro is an improvement of 50% compared to improvementAirPods 1 and 20% compared to AirPods 2, and offers active noise cancellation, the results of the sales show that consumers are not very willing to spend more than US $ 100 to buy irAirPods Pro outlets.
Kuo says that if Apple wants to improve “AirPods” shipments in the future, hardware innovation, such as health management functionality, is needed to differentiate headphones from similar products offered by competitors.