AirPods Lite will launch later this year

Apple is expected to revamp its AirPods product line later this year with many new models. In a new investor note on Monday, analyst Jeff Pu corroborated these expectations and said that Apple will release new, cheaper 'AirPods Lite' sometime in the second half of 2024.

Jeff Pu also corroborated that the new AirPods Max will launch later this year.

AirPods Lite

In the report, Pu explains that AirPods production will be ramped up later this year 'thanks to the launch of a low-cost model'. Jeff Pu's report focuses broadly on the impact of AirPods production on the overall supply chain of Apple and its partners. In total, Jeff Pu says that AirPods shipments will fall 4% year-on-year in 2024 to 55 million units as 'demand for existing models disappears'.

Jeff Pu didn't provide any specifics on what to expect from these low-cost AirPods, dubbed 'AirPods Lite'. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has also reported that Apple is working on a low-cost version of AirPods to be released in 2024. Kuo has suggested that the so-called 'AirPods Lite' product could cost 99 USD

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has repeatedly reported that Apple is planning to introduce AirPods 4 this year in two different models. Both AirPods 4 models are expected to have a new design and a USB-C charging case, but only the higher-end variant will support features like noise cancellation.

As previously explained, it's unclear whether Pu and Kuo are referring to the same lower-end version of the AirPods 4 as Bloomberg or a completely different product. Everything will become clearer as time passes.

Apple currently sells 5 different versions of AirPods:

1. AirPods (2nd generation) – $129
2. AirPods (3rd generation) – $169 (with Lightning charging case) or $179 (with MagSafe charging case)
3. AirPods Pro (2nd generation) – $249
4. AirPods Max – $549

Jessica Tanner

Update 03 April 2024