Apple to Mass Produce AirPods 3 in China Rather Than Vietnam Due to COVID Disruptions [Report]

Apple will mass produce its next generation AirPods in China rather than Vietnam due to COVID disruptions, reports Nikkei.

There are limited engineering resources in Vietnam and recent COVID outbreaks in the country have led to tighter border controls, making it difficult to bring in experienced people.

AirPods were among the first products Apple mass produced in Vietnam and the company still plans to move around 20% of production there, once the situation improves.

Production of other devices in Vietnam has also been delayed.

Apple’s plan to bring some MacBook and iPad production to Vietnam has also been put on hold due to a lack of engineering resources, an incomplete notebook computer supply chain and the dynamic COVID situation, one of the people said.

“[Vietnam’s] engineering workforce is still far from adequate,” the person said. “With all the travel restrictions, it’s only feasible to make products in Vietnam that are already in mass production elsewhere, rather than starting production of upcoming products from scratch in the country.”

These problems have also affected production of Amazon and Google devices. More details in the full report linked below…

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