Releasing AirPods Pro 2 by Christmas could soon be a lot more difficult. This is because Apple appears to have lost one of its two suppliers responsible for the AirPods Pro 2 due to a possible manufacturing issue.
Reliable Supply Chain Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo takes note of a notification from AirPods Pro 2 supplier Goertek received by a “major overseas customer” with instructions to “suspend smart acoustic product assembly.”
Kuo believes this product will be AirPods Pro 2. In addition, the analyst does not believe that demand is the reason for the potential halving of production during the holiday quarter. Instead, he says that “the production stoppage is more like a production problem,” based on his survey.
Meanwhile, Luxshare ICT has had to expand production of the AirPods Pro 2, and it will become Apple's sole assembler. Kuo concludes that it is not known when Goertek will start producing the AirPods Pro 2 again. He also raises the question of whether Gertek could lose other assembly jobs for Apple next year.
Finally, Apple is expected to release 20 million AirPods Pro 2 sets during the holiday quarter. Kuo sets this expectation with the latest manufacturing developments in mind. Stock is still available at this time, but today's change of supplier may soon result in longer delivery times.
AirPods Pro 2 adds improved noise cancellation, built-in volume control, and new features to track lost equipment. AirPods Pro 2 first went on sale on September 22. Check out our review here.
