Apple’s suppliers say they don’t expect the Cupertino firm’s AirPods Max to boost sales as the original AirPods earbuds did. The suppliers believe the over-ear headphones market segment is too niche, says a new report.
DigiTimes reports that Taiwan-based Compeq and Unitech have been producing rigid-flex boards for AirPods and are also believed to be supplying the printed circuit boards for AirPods Max.
However, industry sources say the suppliers don’t expect a significant boost in sales from the AirPod Max, as they believe “over-ear headphones are positioned as a niche segment with higher prices but smaller market scale compared to earbuds.”
The sources cited Canalys statistics showing that the world’s quarterly shipments of true wireless stereo (TWS) earbuds came to around 45 million pairs in third-quarter 2019, compared to 20 million for over-ear headphones.
As mentioned in the report, Bose, JBL, and Sony have the majority of market share in the over-the-ear headphones market. All three offer high-end headphones at a significantly lower price than Apple’s $549 AirPods Max.
AirPods Max quickly sold out when they went on sale on Tuesday, and now all colors are back-ordered until March.