Apple wireless AirPods , which were supposed to hit the markets in October, will not see the light of day this holiday season also.
Late in October, Apple announced to delay the shipment of its wireless AirPod, traditionally aimed to compensate for the removal of headphone jack from the iPhone 7, stating that the product is “not yet ready.”
In their earlier statement, Apple never really announced a specific date to release AirPods. In fact, the tech giant did not specify the reason for the delay. They said, “We don't believe in shipping a product before it's ready, and we need a little more time before AirPods are ready for our customers.”
In November, Barclays said Apple the production is expected to start this month, but Apple plans to produce 10 to 15 million units initially.
People familiar with the matter told Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that the trouble with AirPods appears to stem from Apple’s effort to chart a new path for wireless headphones. In most other wireless headphones, only one earpiece receives a signal from the phone via wireless Bluetooth technology; it then transmits the signal to the other earpiece. Apple has said AirPod earpieces each receive independent signals from an iPhone, Mac or other Apple device. But Apple must ensure that both earpieces receive audio at the same time to avoid distortion. Apple also must resolve what happens when a user loses one of the earpieces or the battery dies.
Also, Kiril Trajkovski, co-founder of Earin, a wireless headphone competitor to WSJ AirPod’s microphone has to be able to pick up a user’s voice while excluding background noise.
However, the actual cause behind the delay still remains unclear, until Apple explains it all in an official statement.
