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.

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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)
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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)