Apple Releases New Limited-Edition AirPods Pro And Otterbox Case For Chinese New Year

Recent media reports about Apple and its operations in China have centered mainly around the disruption at factories making Apple products in the country. These disruptions, caused by a massive spike in COVID-19 infections across China, resulted in huge availability issues for Apple products across the globe. Following this production crisis, Apple also accelerated the process of reducing its dependence on China by moving some of its production facilities to countries like Vietnam and India. While most Apple-related reports from China center around its production facilities, many people forget that China is a massive market for Apple products as well.

Take the case of the Apple iPhone, which has constantly been gaining market share for the last few years. The latest data from 2022 indicates that the iPhone has managed to grab 25% of the Chinese smartphone market following the release of the iPhone 14 in September. Moreover, the iPhone 14 Pro Max — Apple's most expensive iPhone — was the company's best-selling device as of October 2022. Given the sheer size of the Chinese market, it is no surprise that Apple has taken several steps to widen its appeal among the populace.

An example of such a step is Apple's recent decision to celebrate the upcoming Chinese New Year in grand fashion. In anticipation of this festival, Apple recently announced a set of limited edition AirPods Pro that will be sold exclusively in Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau.

For those unaware, China has had a long tradition of representing its zodiac years using 12 different animals. The upcoming Chinese New Year commences on January 22 and the animal representing it will be the rabbit. Most of 2023, therefore, will be known as the Year of the Rabbit in China. Given the enormous cultural impacts of the Chinese New Year on Chinese society, Apple has created Year of the Rabbit-themed AirPods Pro.

To begin with, these AirPods feature a custom-designed rabbit engraving on their wireless charging case. The same set of graphics in red will also be printed on the box in which the AirPods Pro comes. Even more interesting is that Apple isn't charging extra money from users who decide to purchase these AirPods Pro.

In addition to the custom AirPods Pro, Apple has also announced several offers for the Chinese market. These include a 1000 Yuan discount on select Apple products sold between December 30, 2022, and January 2, 2023. The products covered under this offer range from the iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Mini, iPad Air, iPad Mini, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and second and third-generation AirPods Pro models. In addition to these, Apple has announced that it will sell a limited edition variant of OtterBox's Chinese New Year-themed case during the sales period.