AirPods are disappearing from store shelves and may not be back this year

[Greg S]

Apple is facing a great problem to have this holiday season. Due to the demand for wireless earbuds, AirPods are now sold out in most locations across the country. Compared to other wireless options such as the Samsung Gear IconX earbuds, Apple is absolutely crushing the competition in this category with a staggering 85 percent market share.

It may seem as though AirPods have been around for quite some time but they only just arrived last year. Following a delayed launch, Apple missed out on the opportunity to sell AirPods during last year's holiday shopping season. This year, Apple is having trouble keeping its products available after launch.

Amazon currently has no estimated arrival date for more AirPods. Walmart is also out of AirPods but has third-party sellers listing them with inflated pricing. B&H and Adorama are accepting back-orders but are not providing an estimated delivery date at this time. Best Buy has not listed any date when more AirPods may be available. Target has extremely limited stock in a small number of locations but is not completely out as of writing.

Many Apple Stores across the country are also out of stock but some have managed not to sell out on one of this year's popular tech gifts. Ordering online directly from Apple shows January 5, 2018, as being the next date that AirPods will be available. If you happen to be a late shopper looking for a pair of AirPods, it may take some searching to find any left in stock.

Lead image via Expert Reviews

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https://www.techspot.com/news/72370-airpods-disappearing-store-shelves-may-not-back-year.html

 

[oldikes]

The only reason I would want bluetooth headphones is if I could flip a switch to switch from my phone to my PC, to my console, etc.

Bluetooth is not the future in its current revision. Too much latency to be remotely useful for gaming, for video watching on about 50% of devices that dont have picture perfect bluetooth drivers, and battery life sucks.

And I CANT flip a switch on these devices and have them seamless. These are pretty much only fully compatible with apple devices, which means I need at least two pairs of headphones, and then whats the point? now I just have more things to worry about charging.

Will say, airpods are a technological marvel though.

 

[Julio Franco]

Got a pair for Christmas... I'm used to the regular Apple earphones to use with my laptop in the bedroom and I'll say the Airpods fit the same, are on the expensive side, sound is ok, but the experience (wireless/charging/pairing) is just great.

 

[Panda218]

I bought a pair when they first came out to test and returned them due to poor sound quality compared to my Samsung Level U Pro's. They were neat, but aren't worth the price.

 

[Kenrick]

They are the best and perfect pair for the iphones. Expensive but convenient. All the annoyances in bluetooth are fixed and the battery life is surprisingly great. Apple really knows how to do things right. There is a reason why the competition is always trying to imitate them. Got almost $30 discount because of a membership promotion. I can't wait for Bose to release a follow up to their noise cancelling headphones but I bet it will take time since Beats will take a hit if they allow it.

 

[ThrakazogZ]

If I'm going to pay too much for iPhone earbuds, I would want them to sound amazing. That being the case, I would probably go for the Audeze iSINE 10's.....haven't heard much that competes with planar magnetic earbuds.