Hotter than iPhone 14: US$14 AirPods Pro lanyard is selling out on Apple’s website in China amid online mockery

The wait time for orders of Incase’s lanyard surpass those of the regular iPhone 14, similar to the wait for the 14 Pro Max

The lanyard has proven popular even as netizens mocked the high price tag because similar products cost as little as 36 US cents in China

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The second-generation AirPods Pro on display at an event on the campus of Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, on September 7, 2022. Photo: AP

Published: 9:00pm, 13 Sep 2022

A braided loop designed for Apple’s latest AirPods Pro is selling fast in China amid jokes and derision on social media about its 98 yuan (US$14) price tag, after Chinese consumers’ overwhelming interest in the technology giant’s new iPhone 14 handsets overwhelmed its website’s servers during pre-orders.

Wait times for online orders of the lanyard, which was unveiled alongside the new AirPods at a product launch event last week, have stretched past five weeks, according to Apple’s website. As of Tuesday, the earliest delivery time was October 19.

The wait time is similar to that of the iPhone 14 Pro Max, the most popular new handset unveiled last week, and surpasses that of the regular iPhone 14. This is despite the fact that it remains in stock at Apple’s bricks-and-mortar locations across major cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

On social media, though, Chinese netizens have been mocking the 4.54-gram lanyard from California-based Incase for what they see as a high price for braided cords and a plastic clip that attaches to the second generation AirPods Pro case. Similar looking products can be found on domestic e-commerce platforms such as Pinduoduo for as little as 2.5 yuan (36 US cents).

Hashtags about the lanyard became a trending topic on the microblogging platform Weibo this week, racking up more than 350 million views and 12,000 discussions since Sunday.

“I wouldn’t even dare to buy such an expensive rope to hang myself,” one user wrote, receiving more than 16,000 likes. “There are a lot of these in a 2 yuan store,” said another.

However, some users argued that the price is acceptable for consumers who already spent 1,899 yuan on the AirPods Pro 2. Others questioned whether Apple was deliberately keeping stock low as a form of hunger marketing.

In addition to being available in stores in mainland China, the lanyard is still shipping immediately in some markets such as Hong Kong.

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