AirPods Pro remain back-ordered until March

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AirPods supplier confident of booming business through 2021
Anyone hoping to give AirPods Pro as a Valentine’s Day gift can expect to go through some hassle to get them on time.
Photo: Charlie Sorrel/Cult of Mac

Order AirPods Pro today from Apple.com and they won‘t arrive before March 3. And other online retailers are also out of stock. Apple has struggled to meet demand for these wireless earbuds since they launched, and there’s no sign it’s catching up.

That said, there’s a way many people can get AirPods Pro without a wait.

No AirPods Pro for you

AirPods Pro debuted last fall, and are the first completely wireless headphones from Apple. They offer active noise cancellation, and they have silicone tips to make them stay in the ear more reliably.

This feature set made them so popular that Apple sold out well before Christmas or Hanukkah. And the end of the holiday shopping season didn’t help, as anyone who ordered a pair from Apple.com in early January only recently received them… or might still be waiting.

A month later, Apple seems unable to meet demand. An AirPods Pro order placed on Apple’s website now won‘t be delivered until March 3, more than four weeks from today.

The situation is little better with many other online options. Amazon.com list this accessory as “Temporarily out of stock,” just as it was a month ago. There are no units available for delivery from Walmart’s or Best Buy’s websites, either.

Unless you drive to a store

Although Apple’s website con‘t send out any AirPods Pro to shoppers for a month, its retail stores are apparently still receiving occasional shipments.

Today, every Apple Store in the Atlanta area has them in stock. However, none of the San Francisco stores have any. And none are available in any Los Angeles store either. Just one Apple Store in Chicago has these headphones.

Some Target brick-and-mortar locations are better supplied that Apple’s own. Checks this afternoon show in Los Angeles and Chicago show multiple stores with AirPods Pro in stock, but there’s just one in San Francisco or Atlanta.

It seems clear that anyone living in or near a large metropolitan area who is willing and able to do a bit of driving can probably pick up this much sought after product sooner that having it delivered. Even those living with easy access to a single Apple retail store might make regular checks to see if AirPods Pro are in stock.

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