A new report from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that Apple's upcoming wireless earphones will feature a custom Bluetooth chip and will target a higher end market than Beats by Dre.
The earphones dubbed AirPods will be similar in style to The Dash earphones by Bragi. Their custom Bluetooth chip is said to improve battery performance for longer battery life.
The AirPods could be unveiled as soon as tomorrow. According to Kuo, Apple plans to target the high end market with the earphones and target the mid range market with its Beats headphones. It's unclear if this means the AirPods will be priced higher than Beats or whether the price of Beats will be lowered in the future.
We believe Apple will position Beats in the midrange market once it launches Apple's own-brand Bluetooth headphones, in order to maximize profit with a dual-brand strategy. We also believe Apple will have its own-designed Bluetooth-like communication chip, given its higher requirements for power-saving, communication specs and potential rapid growth of Bluetooth headphone shipments. Cheng-Uei and Inventec are the likely choices for assembly service.
Kuo predicts that Apple will not include wireless earphones with the iPhone 7, rather the company is likely to ship the new smartphone with Lightning EarPods.
To find out what Apple unveils tomorrow, please follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, or RSS for updates.
[via MacRumors]
[The Dash]
The earphones dubbed AirPods will be similar in style to The Dash earphones by Bragi. Their custom Bluetooth chip is said to improve battery performance for longer battery life.
The AirPods could be unveiled as soon as tomorrow. According to Kuo, Apple plans to target the high end market with the earphones and target the mid range market with its Beats headphones. It's unclear if this means the AirPods will be priced higher than Beats or whether the price of Beats will be lowered in the future.
We believe Apple will position Beats in the midrange market once it launches Apple's own-brand Bluetooth headphones, in order to maximize profit with a dual-brand strategy. We also believe Apple will have its own-designed Bluetooth-like communication chip, given its higher requirements for power-saving, communication specs and potential rapid growth of Bluetooth headphone shipments. Cheng-Uei and Inventec are the likely choices for assembly service.
Kuo predicts that Apple will not include wireless earphones with the iPhone 7, rather the company is likely to ship the new smartphone with Lightning EarPods.
To find out what Apple unveils tomorrow, please follow iClarified on Twitter, Facebook, or RSS for updates.
[via MacRumors]
[The Dash]