AirPods might get delayed until 2017

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airpods
AirPods were originally scheduled to arrive in October.
Photo: Apple

If you had AirPods on your Christmas list, it might be time to cross them off. A new report claims we could be waiting until January next year for Apple’s fancy new wireless earphones to go on sale.

Unveiled during the iPhone 7 event in September, AirPods sound like the perfect companion for a smartphone without a headphone jack. They’re insanely easy to set up, they work closely with Siri, and they boast Apple’s “extremely efficient” W1 wireless chip.

[contextly_auto_sidebar] AirPods were originally scheduled to arrive in October, but Apple told us last week that it needed “a little more time” to get them ready. Now a new report from Economic Daily News, citing supply chain sources, says AirPods won’t arrive until January.

As a result of the postponement, AirPods manufacturer Inventec is expected to see a 7 percent increase in revenue to $23.83 billion in 2017. EPS, another AirPods supplier, is expected to grow 35 percent next year.

It’s not yet clear why AirPods have been delayed. Apple says it doesn’t believe in “shipping a product before it’s ready,” but it hasn’t disclosed why AirPods aren’t ready yet. We’ve contacted the company for comment and we’ll update this post when we get one.

Update: Citing anonymous “sources familiar with the company’s plans,” AppleInsider reported that the AirPods delay wouldn’t stretch into 2017.

“One person briefed on the matter said plainly that there was ‘no way that these are getting pushed to January,'” the publication said, noting that AirPods demo units have already been shipped to some stores, with employees getting trained on the new wireless headphones.

Via: DigiTimes

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