airpods: Apple AirPods shipment for 2022 to reach 85 million sets with 3.7% YoY jump: Report – Times of India

The annual AirPods shipment for 2022 are expected to reach 85 million sets, thus having a 3.7% YoY increase, as per a report by TrendForce. With the increase in demand, the suppliers of the AirPods are also going to reap benefits, says the report. The companies in this list are expected to be the SWIR LED chip suppliers Epistar and DOWA; InGaAs photodiode suppliers DOWA and II-VI/Finisar; and module assembler USI.
“SWIR wavelengths range from 1,050-2,500 nm, which encompasses the optical properties of compounds such as water, sugar, and alcohol. While SWIR technologies gradually mature, and prices begin to reach feasible levels, wearables manufacturers are expected to officially integrate SWIR technologies into their products in 2H21”, said the report.
It also added that PPG-based (photoplethysmography-based) biosensing functions are going to be featured in the upcoming wearables. These can expand upon the health measurement parameters like heart rate and blood oxygen and allow the devices to check for the hydration levels, blood glucose, blood alcohol and lipid levels too.
The last part of the report was about the AirPods 3’s in-ear detection system based upon the skin-detect sensors. The TrendForce 2021 Infrared Sensing Market Trend – 3D Sensing, LiDAR, SWIR LED report says that through PPG integration, the AirPods 3 “contain an improved in-ear detection mechanism based on skin-detect sensors that are equipped with four SWIR (short-wave infrared) LED chips that have two different wavelengths, as well as two InGaAs photodiodes.”