Russell Holly, iMore:

Shark Tank. The Weather Report. Tiger King. Disney Sing-Along. Community. These five things, and countless others, have one very clear thing in common while we’re all stuck in separate rooms. In each of these television events, the people staring into the camera and laughing, singing, or talking at you about something are all wearing Apple’s AirPods. It’s the best advertising Apple never asked for, but makes a crystal clear statement about the state of the headphone market.

This is Apple’s world now, and everything else is just taking up space on the shelf at the electronics shop.

First time I noticed this phenomenon was at airports. In the months following the release of the original AirPods, I started to see more and more people in airports with AirPods instead of wired headphones. I remember counting the people with each new trip, until the number of people with AirPods became too numerous for me to track.

With all the remote broadcasting made necessary by the pandemic, AirPods have become standard wear everywhere you look. Amazing.