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AirPods Might Not Launch Until January 2017

Tuesday November 1, 2016 9:17 am PDT by Mitchel Broussard
Following the confirmation that Apple has delayed its wireless "AirPods" beyond the original late October launch window, foreign supply chain sources are now pointing towards a launch date in January 2017, and not the late 2016 estimation that many believed would help the Bluetooth device sell during the holidays.

The news comes from Chinese-language Economic Daily News (via DigiTimes), which cites market watchers who believe AirPods manufacturing supplier Inventec will see a profit boost in January because of the new launch date for the device.

airpods-2
Apple originally planned to release the AirPods at the end of October, but has postponed release. Inventec is expected to begin shipping AirPods in January 2017, the paper noted.
Because of AirPods orders, Inventec's revenue is expected to grow 7 percent in 2017, to reach around $23.83 billion, while its earnings per share are also estimated to increase by 35 percent. Its Q4 2016 earnings will be mainly in its PC supplier business, which will "stay flat" from the third quarter output of around 4.85 million units shipped.

The connection between Inventec and AirPods first came in a report by KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo in September. Apple then announced the device during its September 7 iPhone 7 event, where it confirmed the headphones have up to 5 hours of music playback and high-quality sound through a "seamless and automatic connection" between devices, as well as a battery case that includes up to 24 hours of charge.

Related Roundup: AirPods 2
Tag: AirPods Guide
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Pbrutto
32 months ago
Buy the new iPhone they said, we will have cool new Bluetooth headphones they said.....
Rating: 57 Votes
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musika
32 months ago
This would have never happened if the ESC key were still alive.
Rating: 51 Votes
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MadDog31
32 months ago
Christ, here we go again. I'll check back in 350 comments to make sure the world is still ending.
Rating: 45 Votes
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lotzosushi
32 months ago
Not that I wanted them in the first place, but yikes.
Rating: 33 Votes
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macduke
32 months ago
I was excited for them at first, but that excitement has waned considerably by now. It's not good to miss the holiday shopping quarter. So to keep everything straight: They removed the headphone jack on the iPhone 7, promised this wondrous wireless future—which is now delayed, and released a new MacBook Pro with a headphone jack that doesn't even plug into their new Lightning headphones and doesn't have a port which you can plug an iPhone into. WAT. Apple is getting more and more confusing every day. Please let this not be the early 90s all over again. I say this because I care and I'm concerned.
Rating: 33 Votes
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DocMultimedia
32 months ago
As far as Apple goes, "All news is bad news."
Rating: 27 Votes
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OldSchoolMacGuy
32 months ago
AirPods announced: Majority of MacRumors dismisses them as garbage and say they'd never buy them.

AirPods delayed: Majority of MacRumors acts like they were going to actually buy them and get outraged.
Rating: 26 Votes
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Ziggy...
32 months ago

Definetly this years Apple product I am least exited about.

I think you meant to say next years
Rating: 21 Votes
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gibbz
32 months ago
It is pretty embarrassing when you push a wireless future for your phone (which is fine with me) and possibly can't ship your own branded wireless solution* until 3-4 months after launching.

*I know they own Beats, but I'm talking about items that are Apple-branded
Rating: 18 Votes
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Brookzy
32 months ago
Surely not... these would've been HUGE Christmas gifts.
Rating: 12 Votes

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