AirPods Shipping Delay
But if you order them today, they’re still on a 6-week shipping delay. They’re either unexpectedly popular (like last year’s iPhone SE) or unexpectedly difficult to manufacture (or both).
I’m not sure what to make of this. They were originally introduced last September, supposed to ship in October, and actually shipped in December. They continue to work really well for me, except for Siri, which I turned off. Based on my personal experience, I would expect them to be a hit, except that I don’t hear people offline talking about them and have only ever seen one pair in the wild.
Update (2017-05-02): Ben Bajarin (via John Gruber):
The big story is customer satisfaction with AirPods is extremely high. 98% of AirPod owners said they were very satisfied or satisfied. Remarkably, 82% said they were very satisfied. The overall customer satisfaction level of 98% sets the record for the highest level of satisfaction for a new product from Apple. When the iPhone came out in 2007, it held a 92% customer satisfaction level, iPad in 2010 had 92%, and Apple Watch in 2015 had 97%.
Update (2017-12-18): Joe Rossignol:
Apple’s wireless earphones are currently estimated for delivery in early January if ordered today from Apple’s online store in the United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, and several other countries.
AirPods are also currently out of stock at most of Apple’s retail stores around the world, and at authorized resellers such as Best Buy, Macy’s, Target, Walmart, and Verizon in the United States. Bottom line: they’re hard to find anywhere.
Update (2019-01-04): Ryan Jones:
AirPods released in December 2016.
In December 2018 Tim says they are constrained.
HHHHOW?! Zero excuses, none. Don’t say high demand, that’s not how this works. Insane.
4 Comments RSS · Twitter
As I commented on my retweet of Gruber's post, a site called isinstock.com can alert you when the Airpods are in stock at a local Apple store. It is free, and I was able to buy a pair for my wife within 24 hours of turning on the alert. Their prior site (and maybe the current one) showed "stock history" which revealed that many stores get frequent small shipments. They usually sell out within an hour of receipt.
I, too, have only seen one pair in the wild.
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They have never been in stock in any noticeable quantity at the Kenwood Towne Center store in Cincinnati.