Apple’s AirPods are traditionally one of the company’s big sellers during the Black Friday sales but this year will see a mass shortage of the popular items as a major supplier suspended production.
The AirPods were announced this September, alongside the new range of iPhone 14 phones. Apple has already confirmed there will be shortages of iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max phones, and now it seems the new buds will also be in short supply.
GoerTek, who make the buds, fell 10 per cent on the stock market after it announced it has suspended production of an audio product from “a major overseas customer.”
“We estimate this could be AirPods Pro 2 orders from Apple,” Citigroup analysts wrote in a note, downgrading the company’s stock to sell from buy.
“We believe competitor Luxshare could conversely benefit from market-share gains, as we estimate it is a key supplier on this product.”
Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also believes the suspended product is the AirPods Pro 2, although he notes the company will still ship 20 million units in the fourth quarter.
With two of Apple’s major products largely unavailable for the biggest sales period of the year, it might be a not-so-merry Christmas for Apple shareholders.
Apple shares are down 3.3 per cent this morning.