The company has been seeking diversity to its supply chain for some time and moving some production of the AirPods to Vietnam is an important step.
Apple reportedly began trialling regular AirPods in Vietnam about a year ago, and in December, apple suppliers are reportedly seeking financing to expand production. Just two weeks ago, The Nikkei reported that Vietnam’s regular AirPods Pro had begun mass production in March.
Vietnam’s AirPods started mass production as early as March, said one person familiar with the matter. Vietnamese officials even granted special licenses to the key Apple AirPods assembler to help the company bring engineers to the country for smooth production during the shutdown.
Nikkei said at the time that the shift “does not yet include” the high-end AirPods Pro, but it now appears that AirPods Pro has indeed started production in Vietnam, as several MacRumors readers, including @alixrezax on Twitter and our forum, reported that the AirPods Pro with “assembled in Vietnam” was shown on the charging case this week.
Vietnam has long been a hotbed of Apple audio accessories, and even makes older models in the country, such as wired EarPods, and shows no sign of slowing down. In fact, a report earlier this week said Apple’s AirPods Studio headset would be partially manufactured in Vietnam since its debut and was expected to start shipping in June or July.
As DigiTimes reported yesterday, Apple has asked its “iPhone” manufacturing partners to expand production in India and Vietnam, where Apple production is likely to expand to the iPhone. Foxconn, its main partner, already has a major assembly plant in the country.
