Recently, Tian Feng International’s analyst Ming-Chi Kuo released a new exposure. According to him, Apple is raising 2020 AirPods sales to 93.8 million units. It was 80-90 million units last year. It is also expected that the sales of AirPods may increase in the 2nd half of 2020.
The analyst explains the three reasons behind the entire scenario. The first reason is that the new upcoming iPhone 12 Series may cancel the EarPods from the iPhone’s box, increasing the demand for lower-priced AirPods 2 (second-generation AirPods). The second reason is that this may end the inventory depletion of AirPods 2 in the 2nd Quarter of 2020. The third reason is that Apple may have a promotion plan for Airpods in 2nd half of 2020.
Currently, Airpods sales are at their lowest level in the current year (2020). However, Apple’s plans are likely to lead to an increase in AirPods sales. Due to the virus outbreak and shortages, the lack of demand for AirPods 2 caused Apple’s sales in the second quarter of 2020 to decline by about 29% quarter-on-quarter to 17.2 million units.
However, from Apple’s new strategy. AirPods 2 demand may resume from the 3rd quarter of 2020 to maintain strong orders with AirPods Pro. AirPods shipments are expected to grow strongly by 40% QoQ, 44% YoY in the 3rd Quarter of 2020, and 17% QoQ, 39% YoY in the 4th Quarter of 2020.
Currently, the cheapest wireless headphones on Apple’s official website are the BeatsX, which costs $112. While the AirPods (2nd generation) cost around $176, users may not shell out and instead opt to continue with the low-priced EarPods (available on Apple’s official website) for only $29. Of course, this move may also force users to buy headphones from other brands.
