Kuo: AirPods, Apple Watch, and iPod touch to all get new suppliers in 2020

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AirPods Pro hero
AirPods Pro hero (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has a new report out.
  • In it he says that AirPods Pro and iPod touch will be made by a new manufacturer.
  • The same goes for Apple Watch Series 6, too.

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has a new report out in which he says Apple will bring multiple new manufacturers online, some catering for the company's most popular wearables. The report came in an investment note sent to customers of investment firm TF International Securities.

MacRumors notes that Kuo has Chinese company Goertek set to begin manufacturing AirPods Pro during the first half of the year. Apple already uses Luxshare Precision for AirPods Pro production but it wants to further diversify its manufacturing pipelines to better meet what is expected to be strong demand for the new earbuds.

It isn't all bad news for Luxshare, though. It will be taking over manufacturing duties for the S-series chips that power this year's Apple Watch, likely to be named Apple Watch Series 6.

Finally, Apple will bring Chines firm BYD Electronic online as the sole company tasked with producing its iPod touch. It will be taking over from Quanta, the same company also losing out on the Apple Watch deal.

The interesting product here is iPod touch, a device that many would argue Apple hasn't given any meaningful love to in years. Maybe that's about to change.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.