After months of leaks, speculations, and conjecture, Apple announced its new AirPods 3 in October. As the latest in a long series of products that began with the first mainstream wireless earbuds, you’d expect them to be hugely popular – but they haven’t been.
Ming-Chi Kuo, a well-known analyst and expert on all things Apple, claims that the AirPods 3 are an example of Apple’s “failed product segmentation strategy”. Apple is claimed to have slashed orders of AirPods 3 from its suppliers by more than 30 percent in the second and third quarters of this year due to a lack of demand (April to September time frame).
AirPods Pro 2 are expected to be released somewhere in the second half of this year, and it appears that Apple may retire their previous model to prevent “repeating the same error.”.
Even after the release of the AirPods 3, the AirPods 2 are still available. In addition to being 50 dollars less expensive, they’re also significantly more affordable, costing just $129 instead of $179. AirPods 3 are in a strange middle ground between the AirPods 2 and the AirPods Pro, which are both more costly, but at least the Pros have an in-ear fit and active noise cancellation, which the 3 lacks.
We may infer that people who want the best Apple earbuds opt for the Pros, while those who want an inexpensive set of Apple earbuds go for the AirPods 2. Do you see what I mean? Source