The answer?
Apple might as well suck it up and hold off the AirPods release until spring of 2017, the same time it's expected to release some radically redesigned iPads. Independent tech analyst Neil Cybart of Above Avalon summed up Apple's wireless headphone predicament pretty well on Twitter Monday morning:
Received an email from Apple titled "Gifts that are music to their ears."
— Neil Cybart (@neilcybart) 28 November 2016
All about wireless headphones and speakers.
No AirPods.
As I wrote in my initial review, the pre-production version of the headphones had a bunch of bugs and awkward use cases, and Apple must realize it needs to hammer these out before it can start shipping.
At this point, it's reasonable to expect we won't see the AirPods at all until 2017, unless Apple decides to release them in extremely limited quantities. (And if Apple chooses that latter option, it'd just annoy more people than if the company had decided to wait a few extra months.) For now, it's better to end the speculation and push the AirPods launch until next year.
Writer - Liam McClelland | @Liamicy