Apple (AAPL 0.20%) is beginning to shift some of the production of its AirPods out of China, giving the business to Vietnam.
Citing unnamed sources, the Nikkei Asian Review reported around 30% or 3 million to 4 million of Apple’s AirPods will be produced in Vietnam. Production of Apple's higher-end AirPods will remain in China.
IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.
Sources told the Nikkei Asian Review the shift started in March even as Vietnam was in a lockdown due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. An Apple assembler in the country was granted special permission to bring engineers in to ensure production went off without a hitch, noted the report. The tech stock has been leading in the earbuds market for some time now, commanding 36.5% of the market as of the end of 2019.
For months now reports have swirled Apple was looking to diversify production of its devices as the trade war between the U.S. and China raged on. Apple reportedly rethought that when both sides reached a Phase One trade agreement late last year.
But that was before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, creating huge supply chain issues in China. Production is back to normal but there are expectations the disruptions could delay the launch of Apple’s 5G iPhone. The Nikkei Asian Review reported Apple’s plans to roll out new AirPods in 2020 are also being impacted because of the pandemic.
China is still Apple’s main assembler with its iPhones and MacBooks produced in the country. Those products have been excluded from the crushing tariffs on goods imported from China.
