Apple Doubles Down on AirPods Pro Production Following Strong Demand

Apple’s $249 AirPods Pro wireless earphones are turning out to be a massive hit for the company. The company only launched the new AirPods Pro back in October, and it still has a 4-week shipment delay for customers in the United States, reports 9to5Mac.

Apple has faced “much higher” demand than originally estimated for the AirPods Pro, surpassing expectations, Bloomberg reported last Friday. Apple suppliers are scrambling to meet demand, with multiple suppliers competing to get the contract for manufacturing Apple’s AirPods Pro.

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And now, a new report from Nikkei cites that Apple has started doubling down on the production of the AirPods Pro to meet the increasing demand for the earbuds. The company has reportedly asked its main manufacture for the AirPods to increase the number of units produced from 1 million to 2 million units a month. The increase in production should help Apple better deal with the high demand for AirPods Pro.

The company has also asked the manufacturers of the regular AirPods to boost production ahead of the holiday season.

Apple ramping up AirPods production is no surprise. Although the company didn’t have much of the same luck with its HomePods speakers, AirPods actually have been a major hit for the company, becoming the world’s best-selling wireless earbuds in a pretty short period.

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Conversation 8 comments

  • bob_shutts

    27 November, 2019 - 7:20 pm

    <p>No doubt this will delight Paul. ?</p>

  • red.radar

    Premium Member
    27 November, 2019 - 7:29 pm

    <p>I wonder what is driving their success. The form factor or the ease of pairing with iPhones. You would think their are better Sound performance options for a better price but apparently that is not the keys to success in this market </p>

    • daniel7878

      27 November, 2019 - 7:45 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#492735">In reply to red.radar:</a></em></blockquote><p>Both and more. 1. I have apple stuff. It's easier to buy more apple stuff. 2. They are dummy proof and pair effortlessly. 3. They are good. 90% of humans probably can't tell the difference between something audiophiles will deem as "better". If I'm splurging on some wireless earbuds… the difference in price isn't enough to trump those three points.</p>

    • Daishi

      Premium Member
      27 November, 2019 - 10:13 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#492735">In reply to red.radar:</a></em></blockquote><p>Simple reality is that beyond a certain point people don’t actually care about sound quality from headphones and EarPods have always been good enough. </p>

    • DaveHelps

      Premium Member
      28 November, 2019 - 12:56 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#492735">In reply to red.radar:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Slightly more paranoid possibility: I had an iPhone 7 and the wired headphones that came with it lasted about two years. My girlfriend wore hers out in about 18 months.</p><p><br></p><p>We both upgraded to an iPhone XR on the same day. Her wired headphones died with 3 months, mine died after 6.</p><p><br></p><p>My working theory is that the larger, heavier device puts more stress on then connector in my pocket. But it could also be that quality standards on the bundled wired headphones have been “optimised” to help drive demand for AirPods…. or maybe we were both just unlucky!</p><p><br></p><p>Did anybody else experience a similar reduction in life for bundled wired earbuds?</p>

      • Daishi

        Premium Member
        28 November, 2019 - 3:51 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#492817">In reply to DaveHelps:</a></em></blockquote><p>No, it’s not just you. I gave up on wired headphones after I went through the bundled EarPods and three headphone <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">to Lightning</span> dongles in a little more than a year. Though to be fair I lost the second dongle. I couldn’t justify splashing out for AirPods though and just got some cheap Sony’s I found with 16hrs of battery life.</p><p><br></p><p> I’m prepared to be more generous/less cynical than you and say that I think the issue with them isn’t so much that they have been made deliberately worse, but that the shift to the Lightning plug has meant there is extra strain on the wires. The hypothesis being that without the ability for the plug to rotate in the port the way a 3.5mm plug can there’s one less release for forces applied to the cable so the connection to the plug gives out faster. </p>

    • mattbg

      Premium Member
      28 November, 2019 - 10:26 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#492735">In reply to red.radar:</a></em></blockquote><p>I think the simple answer is that they work consistently and work well. If you were a fan of the AirPods but wished they worked better in louder environments (such as trying to listen to an audiobook while walking alongside busy traffic or into a headwind, which could both be tricky with non-Pros) then it's a no-brainer to get the Pro if you can afford them. You know what to expect – they will just be better than what you had before.</p><p><br></p><p>There are lots of minor things about them that make the overall package so great. Even stuff like the fact that both the Pro and non-Pro case fits into the coin pocket on your jeans, the case doesn't catch on anything, the fact that they're effortless to dock into the case, and that all you need to do to stop playback on your device is take them out and put them back in the case. They put clear effort into making sure these were not just wireless versions of the wired form, but that they were actually better.</p><p><br></p><p>Even though it's somewhat of a racket, they are effortless to use with my three Apple devices that now have different ways of connecting headphones (iPad Pro with USB-C and no headphone jack, iPhone with Lightning and no headphone jack, and iPad non-Pro with Lightning and headphone jack). You could say "use a dongle" but I lost the one I had and I would only lose the next one if I replaced it.</p><p><br></p><p>Sure, the noise cancellation isn't as good as over-ears, but it's very good and it's not disorienting like some implementations are. Walking alongside heavy traffic in the Pros is like watching traffic go by through a single-pane glass window. Some of the noise comes through but it's a pleasant background noise that only just reminds you you're still in the real world.</p><p><br></p><p>To me, both pairs of earbuds sound good. If they don't sound good to you then they probably don't fit well. I have audiophile stuff at home. I don't care if I have audiophile stuff when I'm out and about – it primarily needs to be portable and I'd never consider taking a pair of over-ear headphones outside the house. I suspect a lot of people prioritize portability over quality as well.</p>

  • Daekar

    27 November, 2019 - 11:40 pm

    <p>I do not understand the obsession with a product that is so easy to lose, has such poor battery life, and looks so very strange when being worn. It's not just an Apple thing… The entire wireless earbuds market is mystifying to me. </p>

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