Analyst says AirPods ’surge of demand’ will result in holiday shortages
- nov
- 28
What you need to know
- AirPods are proving popular again this year.
- One analyst believes stock shortages are likely because of high demand.
- It's another sign AirPods are a huge success.
Apple can't make them fast enough.
We've already noted that AirPods Pro stocks are low and we've heard that Apple has increased production to try and meet demand. But one analyst believes AirPods as a category is going to be so popular that we should expect more shortages.
That's according to Wedbush analyst Dan Ives (via CNBC) who believes that Apple could ship as many as 65 million AirPods before 2019 is out. That could apparently rise to as much as 90 million in 2020, according to a research note.
While AirPods Pro are already showing significant stock shortages, that's likely to stretch to the whole lineup. With Apple refusing to break down its wearables sales we'll never know for sure how popular AirPods Pro are compared to the standard model.
As if stocks weren't already stretched, Ives thinks that further holiday sales and slashed prices will continue to cause supply problems.
We also expect price cuts on the older AirPods versions at various retail locations starting on Black Friday and especially on Amazon as we saw price points on AirPods 2 this afternoon were cut down to $134 (vs. the original $159 retail price) and will likely be lower on Friday morning.
The upshot of this? If you're looking to pick up AirPods of any description this holiday season, it might be wise to do it sooner rather than later. While you still can.