While the exact reason for the delay remains unclear, a person familiar with the development of AirPods told The Wall Street Journal that Apple’s troubles appear to be related to its “efforts to chart a new path for wireless headphones,” in addition to resolving what happens when users lose one of the earpieces or the battery dies.
I’ve been using the AirPods since they were introduced at the event and I love them. I’ve had a couple of very minor issues over the last couple of months, but nothing significant. These things are going to sell really well.
Too bad Apple’s earpod design doesn’t work for my ears. They hurt and fall out.
Apple totally messed this up. They announced their first wireless buds to help mitigate their lack of an audio jack, then failed to deliver.
Similar issue: Launching MacBook Pros that can’t support their Thunderbolt display, and not being able to deliver the new LG screen.
Something is broken at Apple.
“related to ‘efforts to chart a new path for wireless headphones’,”
An empty phrase that suggests the source knows nothing, or can say nothing; but wants to talk anyway.
It is odd, because wireless earphones based on the new audio chip are out from Beats. To announce a date and miss it so wide is out of the norm for Apple.
Left to my imagination, all I can think of is that something catastrophic in the supply chain occurred, throwing all production on the AirPods off for an extended period.
The AirPods should be attached to each other by a string that goes behind your neck. Everybody knows this. But it is an example of Jony Ives blind spot, where they are designing for other designers, not actually for users and actual use. So users have to carry dongles and buy replacement sets of AirPods.
Steve Jobs would have demanded that AirPods be connected by a string and then he would have offered you 5 choices of colors in accessory strings for $19 each.
“They announced their first wireless buds to help mitigate their lack of an audio jack”
WRONG!
The AirPods are NOT the “first wireless buds”, nor are they the first Bluetooth headphones.
Bluetooth headphones have been available for YEARS. They come in a HUGE range in price, design, and audio quality.
No one with an iPhone 7, or even any previous iPhone since the first one introduced in 2007, have EVER had to “wait” to get Bluetooth headphones for their smartphone!
You really should learn a thing or two about Bluetooth wireless technology. It is NOT something that is being introduced with the AirPods.
Those beats headphones don’t need to handle two simultaneous streams though, since they the earpieces are wired together.
“the” first wireless buds and “their” first wireless buds are wildly different statements 😉
Reviewers did mention that the AirPods have a different shape than the wired EarPods and fit much better for people who had problems.
No one is suffering because the AirPods are delayed!
Samsung has proved to the world what happens when you rush a product out to the public before it has been fully tested.
Are you suggesting that Apple should be more like Samsung, and release defective products to the public simply because it has to meet an artificial date for release???
I hope not!
I agree 100%.
If they wanted to remove the headphone jack from iPhone 7, they should have shipped Lightning/wireless headphones with iPhone 6. This whole discussion of the headphone jack being 150 years old and full of radio noise and obsolete should have happened 2 years ago. People should have seen the waterproof iPhone 7 with no headphone jack and said “well, Apple warned us this was coming.” The Beats headphones I bought one year ago came with an analog cable for audio and a USB cable for charging. Why doesn’t the USB cable also support audio? I should be able to buy an iPhone 7 right now and just be able to put the analog cable in the box and use the USB for both charging and audio.
Similarly, if they wanted to remove all the ports from MacBook Pro, they should have done one generation where the old ports are on one side, and the new ports are on the other, and they could even introduce the old ports as “Classic” and that would light a fire under accessory makers and by the time you ship the next MacBook Pro with only Thunderbolt ports, the ecosystem would be ready. Instead, you literally have MacBook Pro users replacing their Thunderbolt2-to-GigE dongle ($50) from their last machine with a new Thunderbold3-to-GigE dongle ($50) when GigE is not even a legacy port. Everywhere I work, I am expected to get giant-in-file-size creative assets off a GigE network via the use of a GigE connector. I haven’t so much as heard an I-T guy anywhere talk about changing that over to some other port at some point in the future, or identify some problem with GigE that needs to be fixed. I can tell you Wi-Fi does not do it because under the best circumstances, it is still less than half the speed, which means wasted minutes for every single asset. And in many places I work, the Wi-Fi is much less than the best circumstances because the unspoken thing is if you need speed you plug into the GigE.
It used to be that you could confine yourself to shopping only at Apple Store and everything just worked. Now, you have to do some reading, you have to get some I-T help, you have to go item by item at Apple Store and make sure it works in some cases with Mac and iPhone, in some cases only with iPhone and iPad, in some cases you have to have a Mac newer than that and an iPhone newer than that. And you will need 3 dongles with every Mac purchase. And you are still likely to run into trouble with a USB-C cable that doesn’t work right, because so many of them still don’t work right. You may still have your new MacBook Pro shutdown unexpectedly and when you reach for your trusty Mac recovery key you realize it is USB-A.
I hope it is not that Apple are just frantically trying to keep up by responding to others and have not been planing for the future. Because their product line is the kind of mess you see at other tech companies who always frantically try to keep up by responding to others. Because right now, I can’t make the case for a new Mac purchase. I can make the case for a new Surface Pro 4 purchase, but not a Mac purchase. I would spend too much on the Mac update and get nothing in return except a little bit faster/thinner Mac and that would be offset by dongles and the awful keyboard that I don’t even want and the gigantic trackpad that I will never, ever use because I have been using a much faster and much more accurate pen for 20 years now. I would actually have to go down in storage size because my current Mac supports more SSD than a new Mac. And my current Mac supports the same RAM as a new Mac, so I cannot even upgrade just to get more RAM, which would help because I have a few apps that artificially limit themselves out-of-the-box and you are expected as a professional user to put in more RAM and take off the limits, but the makers of that software also expected that a new Mac would hold more RAM than the one from 10 years ago. And my current graphics tablet won’t work with a new Mac, so that is another expense and another case and another 2 kilos on top of the Mac. So I am already one foot out the door to a Surface Pro 4, which starting at $899 is cheaper than just buying a graphics tablet for the Mac. And now Microsoft demonstrated a Surface Pro with ARM chips running the full Windows 10 and the full Adobe Creative Suite. So a year from now there will be iPad-class systems running the full Photoshop. If Apple doesn’t have 16 core iPad Pros that support the Mac API coming soon, they are going to see an exodus of creative users.
In the past, there were times when I felt exasperated by the antiquity of the Apple product line, and then I ate my complaints because they would come out with something bold and futuristic that showed that the antique product line was the Classic option. For example, I was really unhappy looking at PowerBook G3 in 2000, and then they introduced PowerBook G4 titanium which redefined the notebook computer for the 21st century. So I really hope that I can get another round of eating my complaints, but I don’t feel confident. I won’t even pay to update a Mac app today because I don’t know yet if I want the Mac or Windows version. I feel like Tim Cook’s Apple has yet to demonstrate to me that they have any understanding of how or why I use their products. The last 2 things that helped me in a Mac OS update were Mac App Store and Intel compatibility. But I had to do hundreds of software updates for that, and work around dozens of bugs. And the last hardware features that helped me were the iPad (which you can hack into a Mac touchscreen via apps like Apple Logic Remote or Apple Final Cut Remote) and the Unibody and the FireWire port. All of that stuff is either from the last decade except for Mac App Store, which is essentially from the last decade.
I found that “Earhoox” made a huge difference for me – I bought a set of them for the AirPods (if they ever ship…sigh.)
There are literally hundreds of makes & models of Bluetooth earbuds that have a neck cable. I have bought many of them, for around $20 each, and use them until they break after 6-12 months… There are some “AirPod cables” available on Amazon for $9 or less…
Out of interest, what other truly wireless stereo headphones exist? (Wireless as in right and left not even connected by wire)
I’m getting more and more frustrated over the AirPods and Beats X not shipping. I have reasonably decent Bluetooth earbuds, but I want something that will both fit in my pocket, and quickly / easily switch between my various devices…
I hope you can stop arguing to extremes.
Perhaps Eugene is suggesting that he was looking forward to the added convenience of Apple’s wireless setup, to name one feature lacking elsewhere.
Might the delay be due to a Bluetooth 5 upgrade after the SIG validated the spec last week? Apple is a leading SIG member and must have known this was coming soon.
I think Jim’s right in that the Air Pods will sell really well. Apple will get them right, and they’ll be another hit. And if they stay in my ears, I’ll own a pair.
I had a pair of PowerBeats2 Wireless. I liked them, but the rubbery coating on the switch kept “dissolving” and getting all grimy. Beats replaced them once, but it happened again, and I didn’t send the second pair in because I couldn’t find my proof of purchase.
So I bought a pair of PowerBeats3. They’re a big improvement over the 2s because there’s no rubbery coating over the switch, there’s no fragile little cover over the charging port, they’re more comfortable, and the big improvement is the pairing with the X1 chip. You don’t have to disconnect before you connect to another device. Also, the signal doesn’t cut out when I turn my head when my phone is in my front pocket.
I can now easily switch between iMac, MacBook, iPhone, Apple TV, and Apple Watch with the PowerBeats3, and that’s a big relief!
Oh, and another thing: I solved the cord problem by having it in the FRONT and running it between the two top buttons of my shirt. This allows plenty of slack for head movement, and it lets me take them out and dangle on my chest when not in use.
Should have because… that’s what everybody else did? Apple is trying to do something very clever. Obviously they didn’t plan on hitting the snag that’s delayed release, but that’s the kind of thing you can’t plan on. And “Steve Jobs would have…”? Please stop that. He would have done no such thing.
“the” first wireless buds = the world’s first wireless buds
“their” first wireless buds = Apple’s first wireless buds
Many wireless ear buds came before Apple. This is just Apple’s first attempt (although they did make that silly hands free thing).
The initial comment clearly said “their first” and not “the first”.
Can’t believe I have to explain this.
Serious question: does the lack of a physical remote bother you? I’m addicted to the remote on every headphone I’ve used for years now. The idea of having to talk to something like Siri to pause playback, or skip, review, whatever; seems like a huge step backward.
Sad, I know.
Bragi has a couple out right now.
a string connecting them would be stupid and defeat the point.
you are not smarter or better at this than they are.
i plan on buying these for my office job where i do a lot of calls, but yes the lack of physical controls via taps or what not bothers me. they won’t be able to replace my workout BT headphones because i sure as hell won’t be talking to myself in the gym.
“It used to be that you could confine yourself to shopping only at Apple Store and everything just worked.”
That’s just not true. Apple products have had glitches from time to time. Do their products just work less often than before? I don’t know because I lead a productive life and don’t worry about trivial accounting. Bottom line, the whole “it used to just work” meme is pure ignorance. It just works now if you do things right mostly the same as before.
Exactly. Also I’m constantly pausing/playing, rewinding etc when my kids come up to ask me a question, or whatever. So is that going to be like… tap… “pause…” wait… brief conversation, then tap… “play…” wait… all for an interaction that used to be just two clicks? I was looking forward to these before they announced but that seems like a complete deal breaker to me.
You know pulling one out of your ear pauses the music.