Apple's wearables segment played a big role in the company's overall revenue last year. While the Cupertino company is still suffering from the AirPods Pro supply crunch, a recent report revealed that it is working on a new AirPods Pro Lite. Interestingly, Apple is reportedly preparing to launch the product earlier this year, but it was pushed back because of this major reason.
Delayed AirPods Pro Lite Launch
Last week, several tech sites reported that Apple is working on AirPods Pro Lite. The product is the low-cost version of the AirPods Pro, which is believed to offer some of the features of the high-end wireless earbuds. It might feature the Active Noise Cancellation of the AirPods Pro but would drop some specs to make it more affordable.
A new report from the Taiwan-based publication Digitimes reveals that the Cupertino company's plan to launch the AirPods Pro Lite may not happen. The report claims that Apple is planning to officially unveil the product in the second quarter of this year. Although the report fails to mention the reason for the delay, it could be attributed to the current health crisis China is facing.
Until now, Apple is still solving several issues associated with its supply chain and production. It is highly likely that the Cupertino company is still finding a solution to the threat brought by COVID-19 that hampers production, lowers employees turnout, and forces tech companies to change the schedule or temporarily shut down.
iPad Pro Launch
Digitimes also mentioned in an earlier report that Apple is also facing the same issue with its 2020 iPad Pro series. The report claimed that the launch of the Cupertino company's premium tablet series initially scheduled for mar might happen later than expected. Some production facilities in China are currently back in their normal operations, but there are still some that are waiting for the government's approval because of potential health risks.
MacBook Supply
Digitimes recently reported that Quanta, Apple's major assembler of some of its products like the MacBook series, moved its production to Taiwan because of the COIVD-19 issue in China. Whispers online claim that the current generation MacBook might run out of supply after the first quarter of this year. Foxconn, Apple's iPhone assembler, is also experiencing the same problem in China.
Although the facility already resumed its operation, it was reported last week that it only achieves 10 percent employee turnout because of the COVID-19 scare. Experts and analysts believe that if China could not solve this issue, product components and parts would run out by the end of Feb. 2020.
