Among the announcements Apple was expected to make on Thursday, Oct. 27th was a ship date for their new wireless AirPods. But reports now indicate the company will not be selling the pods any time soon, though most of us expected them by the end of this month. Even Apple’s website still indicates the pods will be “Available late October.”
Why the delay? It appears the product isn’t ready for prime time. An Apple spokesperson told TechCrunch, “We don’t believe in shipping a product before it’s ready, and we need a little more time before AirPods are ready for our customers.”
AirPods have been a point of conversation among Apple owners and techies alike as the iPhone 7 removed the headphone jack and replaced it with a second speaker to add stereo sound — something iPhone users have been asking for but have apparently been denied for lack of room in the device.
But with the removal of the headphone jack came the question of where users would plug their headphones in (headphones, of course, that are arguably legacy given their use of wires). A 3.5mm adapter, however, included with the iPhone 7 solves this problem. And, the latest EarPods connect via the Lightning connector.
We shouldn’t lose hope though that Apple has abandoned the AirPods. The company is gambling on changing the industry, with wireless headphones that “combine crystal clear sound with a new sense of freedom.”
Other announcements rumored to be made on Oct. 7 include a redesigned MacBook Pro with a touchscreen strip above the keyboard, possibly called the Magic Toolbar, that will be enabled depending on application in use.
A 5K display may be introduced that replaces the now discontinued Thunderbolt display.
And according to Bloomberg, a new iMac model will supposedly offer more powerful graphics chips from AMD.
