Since Apple has not yet released its awkward-looking wireless earbuds ‘Airpods’ to the public, the rumor mill churns out a conflicting new launch date every other day. Initially, the Cupertino giant issued a statement saying that it needs ‘a little more time’ to test and perfect the product before making it available to the public.
Yesterday, a European reseller suggested that the Airpods will be available for purchase next week. An employee at the reseller told a customer that the new wireless earbuds would arrive on November 17 and available for purchase in the next two days. This report had been contradictory to the information on the reseller’s website so we already had our doubts about the same.
But, researchers at Barclays has now published a fresh report suggesting Apple will start production of the Airpods sometime next month i.e December. The Cupertino giant will skip the widely popular Black Friday sale but if it makes its way to the market by Christmas then consumers will be more than happy.
In addition, the researchers add that the company is having a tough time managing channel inventory. It is trying to keep the cost of the components low by going after batch discounts. Due to the same, the report claims that the initial production could be fairly low, amounting somewhere between 10 to 15 million.
This is one of the most credible sources of information until date, and if the report is to be believed then the Airpods could arrive in time for the holiday season. Apple most likely might be looking to bank upon the opportunity to sell out the wireless earbuds which could be a great gift for those troubled with the loss of the headphone jack on the new iPhone 7 lineup.
For those unaware, Apple announced its latest iPhone 7 lineup a couple months ago. This launch saw the removal of the 3.5mm headphone jack from the same. To fill the gap left by the loss of the beloved jack, Cupertino showed off its latest innovation in the form of truly ‘wireless’ earphones.
Called the Airpods, they are powered by the W1 chip coupled with a set of dual optical sensors and accelerometers. This allows the earbuds to detect when the user has plugged in the earphones so it can play & pause music accordingly. It even detects your jaw motion, enabling a pair of beam-forming microphones to focus on the sound of your voice. You can also directly access Siri from the Airpods with just a tap on the earbud. The Airpods will retail at $159.
