Apple's Chinese Suppliers Are Making AirPods Max in Vietnam

[MacRumors]

Apple's Chinese supply partners saw off competition from Taiwanese rivals to bag the majority of orders for Apple's newly unveiled AirPods Max over-ear headphones, a new report today claims.

According to DigiTimes, Chinese manufacturers Luxshare Precision Industry and Goertek won the majority of AirPods Max orders, despite Taiwan-based Iventec's involvement in the early development of the headphones.

The Chinese makers beat Taiwanese rivals to the AirPods Max orders, even though Inventec Appliances had reportedly participated in the early development of the device, said the sources.

Inventec is already a major Apple supplier of AirPods Pro and it's not clear exactly why it lost out on orders of AirPods Max, but it's possible the Taiwan-based manufacturer's production lines lacked the diversification needed to assemble the new devices, which were reportedly delayed multiple times because of production issues.

DigiTimes' sources suggest that both Luxshare and Goertek are actually producing AirPods Max at their plants in Vietnam, underscoring Apple's plan to accelerate the relocation of its related supply chains out of China, without necessarily moving on from its Chinese partners.

AirPods Max are now backordered until March on Apple's online store, although Apple and third-party retailers like Best Buy and Amazon could theoretically have stocks replenished sooner.

Article Link: Apple's Chinese Suppliers Are Making AirPods Max in Vietnam

 

[Unggoy Murderer]

Got to put all those coal-fired power stations to use, eh?

 

[SWAON]

I'm sure the parts assembly worth no more than $150-$200.. if not even cheaper. I'll not be surprise to hear ridiculous ratio to the insane overpriced $549!

 

[iBluetooth]

I'm sure the parts assembly worth no more than $150-$200.. if not even cheaper. I'll not be surprise to hear ridiculous ratio to the insane overpriced $549!

Your sure! You have no idea of what the parts cost. It's not overpriced if the sound quality matches or exceeds the other headphones in this price range. What is overpriced is the Bose plastic headphones with low quality sound, or the Sony ones with good sound, but horrible voice mice as people speaking on it sound like inside a can. Why, do people focus on the price as I know that Apple sound engineers are extremely good, after hearing the Homepods. At least these include 9 microphones and two cpus for generating the sound. Which will probably be superb, but people complain of the price.

 

[entropys]

IBt, you know it will be benchmarked against the two most popular consumer brand Bluetooth ANC headphones right? If the Bose and Sony are as bad as you say and these airpods max beat them in a comparison it will seem A premium is justified. Whether the outrageous scale of the premium is justified remains to be seen.

the sound, ANC, comfort and H1 features better all be indisputably superior to outweigh the negatives of weight and sky high price.

 

[Macaday]

I'm sure the parts assembly worth no more than $150-$200.. if not even cheaper. I'll not be surprise to hear ridiculous ratio to the insane overpriced $549!

Genuinely baffled by so many comments about these being insanely overpriced when no one has even heard them. If they are only as good as the Sony XM4's then yes, they are over priced. If they are better, then they are worth more. Perhaps we should wait and see? Apple have a pretty good track record now of great sound (not audiophile sound) with HomePod & AirPods Pro.

 

[opfreak]

550 dollar headphones. made by people making about a $1 per hour.

 

[opfreak]

Genuinely baffled by so many comments about these being insanely overpriced when no one has even heard them. If they are only as good as the Sony XM4's then yes, they are over priced. If they are better, then they are worth more. Perhaps we should wait and see? Apple have a pretty good track record now of great sound (not audiophile sound) with HomePod & AirPods Pro.

Genuinely baffled by so many comments supporting headphones when no has even heard them.

 

[newyorksole]

Your sure! You have no idea of what the parts cost. It's not overpriced if the sound quality matches or exceeds the other headphones in this price range. What is overpriced is the Bose plastic headphones with low quality sound, or the Sony ones with good sound, but horrible voice mice as people speaking on it sound like inside a can. Why, do people focus on the price as I know that Apple sound engineers are extremely good, after hearing the Homepods. At least these include 9 microphones and two cpus for generating the sound. Which will probably be superb, but people complain of the price.

Thank you!! Lmao every single negative post I see focuses on the price and they speak NOTHING about the build quality or sound (which they haven’t tested). I really don’t get it.

All of these people hate Apple yet still buy their stuff...

 

[newyorksole]

Genuinely baffled by so many comments supporting headphones when no has even heard them.

How is saying “try them before you hear them” being ‘supportive’?

You think it makes sense to essentially judge a book by its cover without even giving it a chance when there are other products priced the same or HIGHER?

Baffling.

 

[Spock]

Your sure! You have no idea of what the parts cost. It's not overpriced if the sound quality matches or exceeds the other headphones in this price range. What is overpriced is the Bose plastic headphones with low quality sound, or the Sony ones with good sound, but horrible voice mice as people speaking on it sound like inside a can. Why, do people focus on the price as I know that Apple sound engineers are extremely good, after hearing the Homepods. At least these include 9 microphones and two cpus for generating the sound. Which will probably be superb, but people complain of the price.

I’m concerned about the battery more than the price. I like to get as much use out of my Apple products that I can and currently, my AirPods are two years old and the battery makes them almost useless and the batteries cannot be replaced. I don’t want to make a $549 investment for the same thing to happen in two years. I know that they can be wired but without power, none of the technology will function making these a basic pair of headphones. I’m just not yet convinced that spending that kind of money on a first generation product on headphones, people keep comparing them to Bose and Sony etc. but they forget that those companies have been making headphones a lot longer than Apple.

 

[NotTooLate]

I’m concerned about the battery more than the price. I like to get as much use out of my Apple products that I can and currently, my AirPods are two years old and the battery makes them almost useless and the batteries cannot be replaced. I don’t want to make a $549 investment for the same thing to happen in two years. I know that they can be wired but without power, none of the technology will function making these a basic pair of headphones. I’m just not yet convinced that spending that kind of money on a first generation product on headphones, people keep comparing them to Bose and Sony etc. but they forget that those companies have been making headphones a lot longer than Apple.

" the batteries cannot be replaced" - The batteries are replaceable and are serviced by Apple.

"but they forget that those companies have been making headphones a lot longer than Apple." - not a good way of looking at things , look at Tesla , or M1 , or countless other examples , when you are at the top , companies have a benchmark to clear , and there is no reason to believe Apple cant clear that benchmark with enough resources invested.
Its not like its their first go at an Audio product ....

 

[Plett]

I’m concerned about the battery more than the price. I like to get as much use out of my Apple products that I can and currently, my AirPods are two years old and the battery makes them almost useless and the batteries cannot be replaced. I don’t want to make a $549 investment for the same thing to happen in two years. I know that they can be wired but without power, none of the technology will function making these a basic pair of headphones. I’m just not yet convinced that spending that kind of money on a first generation product on headphones, people keep comparing them to Bose and Sony etc. but they forget that those companies have been making headphones a lot longer than Apple.

Battery replacement is available for AirPods Max at $79us.

 

[SWAON]

Your sure! You have no idea of what the parts cost. It's not overpriced if the sound quality matches or exceeds the other headphones in this price range. What is overpriced is the Bose plastic headphones with low quality sound, or the Sony ones with good sound, but horrible voice mice as people speaking on it sound like inside a can. Why, do people focus on the price as I know that Apple sound engineers are extremely good, after hearing the Homepods. At least these include 9 microphones and two cpus for generating the sound. Which will probably be superb, but people complain of the price.

yes for what they offer, it's overpriced. no doubt, but real reviews will only prove it. you'll see the general opinion will be not what Apple expects..

 

[Spock]

Battery replacement is available for AirPods Max at $79us.

That’s the point, I shouldn’t have to spend another $79 in two years to continue using my $549 headphones with 100% usability. This isn’t just about Apple, I would have these same complaints with any headphones.

 

[coredev]

I'm sure the parts assembly worth no more than $150-$200.. if not even cheaper. I'll not be surprise to hear ridiculous ratio to the insane overpriced $549!

So what, that's not news. Parts are always cheaper than the finished mass product. There has to be a markup for upfront R&D, advertising, distribution channel, and of course the profit margin.
Apple is known for it's profit margin of ~35 percent, so what did you expect?

 

[The_Gream]

Can’t people just wait and see anymore, before they use their fingers to look like bags of hot air?

 

[President-Elect Beachball]

I always knew that if Apple were to move production to the US and work with US partners their products would become too expensive. I'm glad those are so affordable.

 

[lindros2]

As posted here, Reddit, and in Apple Communities (before they whitewashed me), I’ve purchased/returned three pair - now four with replacement - AirPods Pro produced in Vietnam. We also have a Samsung Chromebook produced there as well (earlier production was China).
The quality and QA in Vietnam is so bad that my daughter sliced her hand on the Samsung, and Apple risks serious issues and brand damage if they don’t fix this.
$550 for Vietnam garbage? Nope. I’ll stick to Sony and Bose - which, incidentally, I bought both QC35 II and Sony WX4 for 77% of AirPods Max.

 

[lindros2]

Can’t people just wait and see anymore, before they use their fingers to look like bags of hot air?

We’ve seen. Vietnam quality is crap.
I have dozens of serial numbers of returned/replaced AirPods Pro from Vietnam.

 

[ksec]

A Chinese Company moving to Vietnam for Production.

 

[opfreak]

How is saying “try them before you hear them” being ‘supportive’?

You think it makes sense to essentially judge a book by its cover without even giving it a chance when there are other products priced the same or HIGHER?

Baffling.

Are you saying there arent tons of supportive comments on these headphones from people that havent heard them?

 

[femike]

Labour is cheaper is Vietnam and still the price is astronomical.

 

[iBluetooth]

I’m concerned about the battery more than the price. I like to get as much use out of my Apple products that I can and currently, my AirPods are two years old and the battery makes them almost useless and the batteries cannot be replaced. I don’t want to make a $549 investment for the same thing to happen in two years. I know that they can be wired but without power, none of the technology will function making these a basic pair of headphones. I’m just not yet convinced that spending that kind of money on a first generation product on headphones, people keep comparing them to Bose and Sony etc. but they forget that those companies have been making headphones a lot longer than Apple.

They have been making speakers and sound devices for quite a long time. But, still it required Apple to bring Homepod for companies to understand that sound quality matters. You say it's the first generation, but they bought Beats that has a long history of headphones that were aimed at competing with the lower end. But these are aimed at the higher end and I do have faith in Apple engineering, when it comes to sound. You can bash them all you want but a first generation product doesn't always mean it sucks. Let's wait to see the sound reviews. For me I will never be spending so much on headphones, but if I was going to, I would choose quality over price any day. Bose focus is selling a lot of those plastic headphones so people can work in open areas, but their app sucks and I will never try to use that **** again (and why 2GB app to control headphones?).

 

[iBluetooth]

yes for what they offer, it's overpriced. no doubt, but real reviews will only prove it. you'll see the general opinion will be not what Apple expects..

No, I agree with you. Review of Apple product mostly focuses on the price. The same was for iPhones when Samsung was making plastic Galaxy phones. Then they switched to more premium materials, and now reviews don't complain about iPhone prices any more, as Samsung is matching their prices.