AirPods Suppliers Worry Demand Will Drop [Report]

Suppliers of rigid-flex boards (PCBs) for Apple's AirPods are worried that they could see reduced shipments for the popular wireless earbuds due to the coronavirus outbreak, reports DigiTimes.

The makers have already seen weakened shipment momentum due to the production distributions at downstream assemblers in China. However, despite the slowdown in shipments, Apple left its order for Q1 2020 unchanged.

The sources said that amid the outbreak in China, assemblers, with limited workforce, have tended to give production priority to AirPods Pro and other higher-value Apple devices, leading to notable shipment reduction at rigid-flex board suppliers for AirPods 2 including Unitech, which has 40% of its revenues coming from such shipments.


Normal shipments for all AirPods won't be achieved until assemblers are able to ramp up to 100% capacity utilization, says the source. Originally, supply chain partners expected strong shipments through the first half of 2020; however, that will now depend on consumer demand in Q2.

Currently, Amazon has all AirPods on sale with the AirPods 2 in stock and the AirPods Pro shipping in 1-2 days.

● AirPods 2 with Charging Case - $139 ($20 off)
● AirPods 2 with Wireless Charging Case - $169 ($30 off)
● AirPods Pro - $234.98 ($14.02 off)

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