AirPods Slip to 4 Week Delivery Estimates for Most Countries

After launching on Apple.com early yesterday with a delivery window somewhere between December 19 and December 22 for most countries, Apple's new wireless headphones have now slipped to 4 week delivery estimates for most launch countries and territories. Within 90 minutes, shipping windows for Apple's United States website slipped to 4 weeks yesterday, but most European countries held onto deliveries before Christmas for a while longer, as well as having estimates a few days ahead of U.S. customers.

Now, for most territories in Europe where the AirPods are available shipping dates have lengthened to 4 weeks, including: France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Italy, and more. Elsewhere around the world, Apple.com in Singapore, Japan, and Australia have all had their AirPods shipping estimates slip to 4 weeks into 2017. In total, AirPods are available in more than 100 countries.

airpods-image-new
When they debuted on Apple.com, the company noted that the first round of AirPods shipments would be available in "limited quantities," meaning many of its customers missed out on the opportunity to purchase the wireless headphones as Christmas presents. There remains a sliver of hope, however, with Apple noting that its retail stores will receive "regular AirPods shipments," but it's not clear which stores specifically, and when they'll begin getting the shipments. Apple authorized resellers and select carriers will also get some AirPods inventory next week.

Apple has also added a few support pages onto its website centering around how to use the AirPods, adjusting its features, and the device's various technical specifications.

Related Roundup: AirPods 4
Buyer's Guide: AirPods (Buy Now)
Related Forum: AirPods

Popular Stories

Apple Glass

Apple Smart Glasses: Everything We Know So Far

Wednesday May 21, 2025 8:21 am PDT by
Google made waves yesterday by showcasing a set of lightweight smart glasses featuring deep Gemini integration and an optional in-lens display. The demo has reignited interest in Apple's own smart glasses project, which has been the subject of rumors for nearly a decade. Here's a recap of where things stand. Current Development Status Apple is actively working on new chips specifically...
iPhone 17 Air Pastel Feature

iPhone 17 Air Battery Capacity and Weight Allegedly Revealed

Monday May 19, 2025 2:22 am PDT by
Apple is expected to launch an all-new ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air later this year, and while there have been plenty of rumors about the camera's overall design and thinness, we haven't heard any details about the device's weight and battery capacity until now. According to the leaker going by the account name "yeux1122" on the Korean-langauge Naver blog, the 6.6-inch iPhone 17 Air has a weight ...
Apple CarPlay Ultra instrument cluster themes 01

Apple's CarPlay Ultra Is Here – Does Your iPhone Support It?

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:17 am PDT by
Apple's recently announced CarPlay Ultra promises a deeply integrated in-car experience, but not all iPhone users will be able to take advantage of the new feature. According to Apple's press release, CarPlay Ultra requires an iPhone 12 or later running iOS 18.5 or later. This means if you're using an iPhone 11, iPhone XR, or any older model, you'll need to upgrade your device to access...
WWDC 2025 Banner

Apple Announces WWDC 2025 Schedule, Including Keynote Time

Tuesday May 20, 2025 8:13 am PDT by
Apple today announced a more detailed schedule for its annual developers conference WWDC, which runs from June 9 through June 13. The schedule confirms that Apple's keynote will begin on Monday, June 9 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, with a live stream to be available on Apple.com, in the Apple TV app, and on YouTube. During the keynote, Apple is expected to announce iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16,...
macOS 16 visionOS Inspired Feature 1

macOS 16: Everything We Know So Far

Tuesday May 20, 2025 7:31 am PDT by
The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple's annual developer and software-oriented event, is less than three weeks away. We haven't heard a great deal about macOS 16 ahead of its announcement this year, so we could be in for some major surprises when June 9 rolls around. Here's what we know so far about the next major update to Apple's Mac operating system. macOS 16 Name? Every year ...
maxresdefault

OpenAI Buys Jony Ive's AI Startup to 'Completely Reimagine What It Means to Use a Computer'

Wednesday May 21, 2025 10:27 am PDT by
OpenAI is acquiring io, the hardware-based AI startup co-created by Jony Ive, OpenAI announced today. Ive has been working with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on io for two years, and the duo expects to develop a family of AI devices. In a video shared by OpenAI, Altman and Ive outlined their partnership and what they expect to create as a result of the merger. "I have a growing sense that everything ...
Apple Glasses Purple Feature

Apple Smart Glasses Launching in 2026

Thursday May 22, 2025 12:22 pm PDT by
Apple is planning to launch a set of smart glasses by the end of 2026, reports Bloomberg. The glasses will be comparable to the Meta Ray-Bans and the Android XR glasses that Google showed off earlier this week. Apple's smart glasses are expected to include cameras, microphones, and AI capabilities, much like the Meta Ray-Bans. The glasses will be able to take photos, record video, provide...
Apple CarPlay Ultra instrument cluster themes 01

Apple's 'CarPlay Ultra' Experience Now Available

Thursday May 15, 2025 5:07 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its next-generation CarPlay experience, now dubbed "CarPlay Ultra" begins rolling out today, starting with Aston Martin vehicles. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. CarPlay Ultra is now available with new Aston Martin vehicle orders in the U.S. and Canada. It will also be available for existing models that feature the brand's next-generation ...

Top Rated Comments

adamjackson Avatar
110 months ago




I think this image says a lot about where Apple is. You have to look at their product images to see their direction and while it's not one I currently buy into, it is much more mainstream than people on MacRumors are. Most of us are power-users but this is essentially Apple's way now.

An iPhone 7, Jet Black, no case, beautiful, thin and reflective. An eye catcher. an Aluminum watch w/ White sport band set to a very simple almost no value watch face..no widgets, guides, etc except how many times you moved today. AirPods sitting alone w/o any cables and a MacBook with an Apple Music subscription storing nothing locally, cloud, portability, not charging just sitting solo w/o cables hooked up to the Internet in full-screen mode (very iOS like).

Nothing about this image speaks to the professional in me with 8 external devices, a 1TB SSD, 32GB of RAM, all day battery life editing RAW images on an external display with a full-size mechanical keyboard and mouse.

It's almost like a fashion advert and not one on computing at least my definition of computing. But I am pretty sure Apple sells a ton of what's photoed here. The low-end apple watch, jet black iPhone, AirPods and the MacBook. This satisfied 99% of the computing needs for 99% of people who literally just use their devices for selfies, Facebook, Snapchat and youtube.

My GF has this setup except her notebook is a 13" MBP with the smallest SSD and 8GB of RAM and for her needs of shopping, emails and staying in touch with friends, it's overkill. She would be just fine with this setup. She is Apple's target audience.

I think we here on MR are out of touch with today's mainstream computing. No one needs 4 processor cores or 32 GB of RAM..not no one but the single digit percentage of us that do need these things is barely a blip on any company's radar when their goal is profitability.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
A MacBook lover Avatar
110 months ago
Aww man! The hateful negative comments on macrumors didn't work :(
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Zirel Avatar
110 months ago
Steve Jobs would never let this happen.

The Chinese HAVE to make these faster, even if they die doing so.

Tim Cook and Jony Ive must go, they need to make these thick and ugly so people don't buy.

/s
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
2457282 Avatar
110 months ago
I think this image says a lot about where Apple is. You have to look at their product images to see their direction and while it's not one I currently buy into, it is much more mainstream than people on MacRumors are. Most of us are power-users but this is essentially Apple's way now.

An iPhone 7, Jet Black, no case, beautiful, thin and reflective. An eye catcher. an Aluminum watch w/ White sport band set to a very simple almost no value watch face..no widgets, guides, etc except how many times you moved today. AirPods sitting alone w/o any cables and a MacBook with an Apple Music subscription storing nothing locally, cloud, portability, not charging just sitting solo w/o cables hooked up to the Internet in full-screen mode (very iOS like).

Nothing about this image speaks to the professional in me with 8 external devices, a 1TB SSD, 32GB of RAM, all day battery life editing RAW images on an external display with a full-size mechanical keyboard and mouse.

It's almost like a fashion advert and not one on computing at least my definition of computing. But I am pretty sure Apple sells a ton of what's photoed here. The low-end apple watch, jet black iPhone, AirPods and the MacBook. This satisfied 99% of the computing needs for 99% of people who literally just use their devices for selfies, Facebook, Snapchat and youtube.

My GF has this setup except her notebook is a 13" MBP with the smallest SSD and 8GB of RAM and for her needs of shopping, emails and staying in touch with friends, it's overkill. She would be just fine with this setup. She is Apple's target audience.

I think we here on MR are out of touch with today's mainstream computing. No one needs 4 processor cores or 32 GB of RAM..not no one but the single digit percentage of us that do need these things is barely a blip on any company's radar when their goal is profitability.
Very well articulated. Two thoughts on your statements. One is that it may be more than 1%, but I do find that the hardware that Apple is producing (and most companies at this point) continue to increase in power and capability to address significantly more and more users. So, if by my take, Apple is excluding 5% of the power users, it won't be long for that to shrink to your 1%. My second point, is that given that the hardware addresses so much of the user base, what is lacking is the software. Apple used to provide a great photo editing and management application in Aperture. Now we have Photos, not quite as good (but it has improved). Apple has an office suite, but is not meant for professionals and cannot compete with MS-Office. I could go on. The point is that even if the hardware is there, the software is probably only addressing 80% of users. The rest must invest in purchasing additional software to meet their needs. Although I get the anger from the pro users, I think that Apple is really missing the opportunity on the software side. If I have to buy MS-Office or Photoshop because the Apple software does not meet my needs, then I could just as easily buy them on a different platform. Apple needs to close this gap.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
miknos Avatar
110 months ago
I cannot imagine these staying securely in one's ears during exercise. Hope I'm wrong.
Saw three reviewers saying they stay in your ear without feeling like it's gonna fall when you're running or jumping around.

I would love to get a pair of those for my wife. She leaves the tv so loud at night I can't sleep. Sometimes I feel like killing her but for now I cannot spend extra money on insurance.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
shareef777 Avatar
110 months ago
I was excited about these until I got my 2016 MBP. Using that bug infested POS for the past month leaves little doubt that this is a sinking ship. For those that cry about negativity, I'll just say check my previous posts. I've been supporting the MBP before it was announced, and well after. But a month of first hand experience tells me that Apple just wants to get products out the door and $$$ into their pockets. They'll figure out the rest later. User experience is NOT their first goal. Sales/profits are. TCook era is well underway.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)