Apple plans Vietnam production for over-ear ’AirPods Studio’ headphones

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Apple's relationship with Foxconn on the rocks
It appears Apple and CEO Tim Cook are hedging their future bets by diversifying more production outside China.
Photo: Apple

Apple appears to be diversifying production outside Mainland China as a report Tuesday claims the company will be manufacturing its long-rumored over-the-ear headphones in Vietnam as well as China.

According to sources, The Information reports Apple will use two manufacturers to produce the headphones at factories in Vietnam. As recently reported by Cult of Mac, Apple will reportedly produce new rumored classic AirPods in Vietnam as well.

Apple will reportedly continue to make the rumored headphones in China as well in an effort to prevent operations from totally shutting down, as happened in the first quarter of this year when the coronavirus pandemic began to impact manufacturing.

It is not known what percentage of either product will be made in each country.

Rumored on-ear headphones

Apple is rumored to be working on its own over-ear headphones called “AirPods Studio,” that will grow Apple’s product brand outside of its in-ear lineup. Sources believe the new over-ear headphones will include some form of noise-cancellation technology, similar to models made by Bose, Sony, and Sennheiser.

Last month, Hong Kong analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple’s rumored over-ear headphones will enter mass production in mid 2020. YouTuber and leaker Jon Prosser also reported similar details in May, as did Bloomberg over two years ago.

Expected to launch sometime this year, the “AirPods Studio” are expected to be priced around $350.

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