Rumors about Apple launching cheap AirPods have surfaced again. Reportedly, the cheap AirPods will be priced at USD 99.
According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo's report, Apple will release a new generation of AirPods in the second half of 2024 or first half of 2025. Products to be launched include AirPods at a more affordable price and a new generation of AirPods Max, as quoted from The Verge, Friday (13 /1/2023).
In his tweet on Twitter, Kuo said that Apple plans to sell the cheap AirPods at a price of USD 99. This price is USD 30 cheaper than the current cheapest AirPods, namely the second generation AirPods, which are priced at USD 129.
In addition, there are also third-generation AirPods that are sold at USD 169 for the variant that can only be recharged using a Lightning cable, and USD 179 for the variant that can be recharged wirelessly using MagSafe.
This isn't the first time rumors about cheap AirPods have surfaced. Analyst Jeff Pu previously said Apple plans to launch AirPods at a more affordable price to compete with non-Apple true-wireless stereo (TWS) devices.
Apart from cheap AirPods, Kuo also said that Apple will release a new version of AirPods Max. It's not yet known what new features the over-ear headphones will bring, but this will be the first update for the AirPods Max since they first launched in December 2020.
These premium headphones, priced at USD 549, are the most premium audio products offered by Apple. However, many users hope that Apple will improve the sound quality with lossless audio support, an improved carrying case, a longer battery life, and new color choices.
Kuo previously reported that Apple will launch a USB-C enabled charging case for all AirPods models in 2023. So it's likely that Apple will update the AirPods charging case in 2023, but for the buds themselves it won't be updated until 2024 or 2025.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman last October predicted that Apple would launch AirPods, AirPods Pro and AirPods Max that support USB-C in 2024.