I’m on a Metro North train right now and there are four people with AirPods on right now. I see them all the time on the 6. I see them all the time in the gym. They are out there.
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Apple is Currently Sold Out of AirPods Until January
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One could argue that getting the iPhone X out in numbers was a higher priority given its much higher price. Meaning that Airpods simply always were at the end of a list of priorities and as long as they almost satisfied demand. Or maybe that demand kept increasing by 5% every month and while Apple increased output, demand kept outgrowing their previous expectations. Or there is one bottleneck in the production and increasing the capacity there could only be done in large steps (eg, adding a third machine to increase capacity by 50%).
There certainly is a story there. Though whether it ever comes out is not certain.
Speak for yourself. I see no evidence they are flopping.
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Try running in the summer with a pair of Studio 2s's and maybe you'll understand the draw of the airpods.
Apple Store employees and the Apple website state very directly that the wireless charging case will be separate, that there will not be a version of the headphones that ships with the wireless charger. Yeah, they could change their mind. But I doubt it. This thing is easy profit.
Oh, sorry.
I thought when you said
"The EarPods have absolutely atrocious audio quality. Very tinny. How can these possibly be any better?"
you were asking how the AirPods could possibly be better than the EarPods.
Weren't you?
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Yes, I have some AirPods, and like them a lot.
And yet many people on this thread also say they sound like earpods. If the sound quality is even remotely in the league of earpods, they're garbage. Wired earphones at 1/3rd the price of airpods are worlds better. And while wireless is worth paying the price for, garbage sound quality of airpods is not worth buying at any price.
Well many people here also said many ridiculous things. It’s very easy to test for yourself, or continue your agenda by believing nonsense spoused by non owners, who care?
The sound quality is good enough for me to retire my Bose QC35 for traveling on plane only. That’s quite good enough.
I’ve actually seen quite a few pairs when I was up in NYC last month for business. Odd. Maybe it’s just one certain rails (such a Amtrak in NY). Of course my comment was anecdotal
I think mostly people assume that they do. As did I before I listened to them. Unless there's been a silent update to the EarPods in the last ~2 years (because I haven't listened to a recent set), AirPods sound better than them. Compared to my AKG K702s which are obviously in a different league but also a very different kind of headphones, I still find the AirPods very enjoyable to listen to.
I bought a new 6s six months ago, partly because I wanted to retain the headphone jack. I bought extra EarPods because they're a cheap convenient solution for when I still need to hear ambient surroundings. Then I got the AirPods and they're just about the only thing I use. Because I watch video half the time I'm using them, and they don't lag, it's probably the only reason I can use a wireless earphone at all. Because I can use just one for making calls it's saved me buying an additional Bluetooth headset.
Apples vs oranges. Big bulky over-the-ear headphones will sound better, yes, but sacrifice extreme minimal size/weight with intolerable bulk (I'm not going to wear bulky headphones for long walks, nor wear them most of the day for conference calls interspersed with filler music). I have cheap BT headphones that sound good, but practically blocking out all other sounds is problematic.
Were I interested in an optimal listening environment for music which I'd focus my attention on, perhaps Studio 2s would be ideal.
I need something that's not getting tangled, nor requires me to keep moving my phone every time I move more than a couple feet, AND which doesn't blot out most sounds around me - something which I can still attend to background sounds, or have a conversation without having to keep taking 'em off vs looking ridiculous with big earmuffs on.
One of the best Apple devices I have ever purchased. Use them almost every day with either rMBP, iPad Pro, iPhone 8+ and AW3. I have heard that they can be used with ATV4, but haven't had a need to try that yet.
When my wife saw them, she hated them. When I asked her to try them just once - she was hooked. We went the next day purchased a pair for her from Best Buy. She uses them all the time when she is listening to music at work and relaxing at home.
When my wife saw them, she hated them. When I asked her to try them just once - she was hooked. We went the next day purchased a pair for her from Best Buy. She uses them all the time when she is listening to music at work and relaxing at home.
Those $10 devices have nearly destroyed my $800 devices several times when the wires get tangled in random protrusions or fail to stretch 2" farther, pulling the device off the table.
Working remotely, I'm on calls frequently. The convenience & protection of wireless (with better audio to boot) adds up to a worth exceeding $150.
Yes, I've tried the $10 BT options too. Can't hear a thing outside them when in my ear deep enough to sound decent, and make an obnoxious squeaking noise as the earplug wiggles amid normal motions. And they're still "wired" insofar as both earpieces are physically connected.
Didja consider how bad the delivery times would be _without_ that supply chain genius?
Doesn't seem anyone else is delivering comparable products at all.
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Sold out under extreme demand is a "flop"? You keep using that word; I do not think it means what you think it means.
I assumed it was the same but with a W2 chip but someone on here said they sounded better, so I could be wrong.
they were sold out last year too 
(mine were delivered last December, the 15th I believe)
(mine were delivered last December, the 15th I believe)
What’s to refresh, they’ve got 98% satisfaction as is and Apple still can’t make them fast enough to keep up with demand—and it’s been a year since they’ve launched. Apple doesn’t update hardware just because.
I do expect Space Grey or Black sometime, and maybe even other colors, at some point. But that would be for this generation.
That’s not to say they can’t be improved; obviously they’ll be refreshed at some point. If I had to guess I’d say September of next year, but it could just as easily be September of 2019.
they were sold out last year too
Apart from the fear of losing a pod, have you ever felt that in heavily crowded places such as say a bus/ train/ tube wherein people might be neck to neck, someone might just yank one out of your ear?
No one cares about wired, but seeing as they are wireless, I fancy that hooligans might just be more emboldened at having a go at it. At $200 here in India, this is serious money for headphones (I got my ATH M50x for $120) albeit with wireless tech and convenience, and about the only thing that prevents me from buying is that fear of theft.
They don't stay in ears while running. The earbud form factor is completely awful for movement. The below are far more versatile, better for working out, and superior for sound isolation. Apple's earbud designs have always been terrible. The fact that they now look like dangling earrings makes it even worse.
https://www.amazon.com/Miric-Wirele...sr=8-18-spons&keywords=wireless+earbuds&psc=1
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It's judged on usability first and foremost, and Apple's earbuds have always sucked based on form factor. Now, visually, their form factor is even worse. They don't stay in. They don't isolate. They're not comfortable. They suck.
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But what does that have to do with AirPods?
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Yeah, because Apple is the only company in the world to ever update their products, and market their new products as better than their older products.
Literally never in the history of companies, or products, did anyone even think of pulling a stunt like that until Apple did.
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So what is your point? That charging cables are a bad product because careless teenagers sometimes lose them?
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No - he was clearly saying that people are idiots for buying something they don't need.
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You can't understand that people might have a different opinion to you?
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If the argument is that AirPods look stupid, then clearly people using them don't consider form as important a factor as function and convenience.
But for what its worth, I don't think they look stupid, I still have a pair of Bowers & Wilkins, but love my AirPods in a few use case scenarios - the winter, when I wear my beanie hat; the gym; or watching Netflix late at night. In none of those scenarios am I that bothered about form. Its not like they are, I dunno, a fairly big all in one computer sat on my desk, where I would probably consider form more than a small pair of earphones that I can't see while I am using them.
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The convenience of not having wires every day I use them far outweighs the inconvenience of having to charge the case overnight once a week or less.
I don't really consider the possibility of losing them an inconvenience - I could just as easily lose my phone. But then, I don't find it that difficult to pop them back in the case when I'm not using them, and pop the case back in my pocket.
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Is that a real product, or an April Fool?
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Actually a real product!
Makes you wonder if there isn't some holiday coming up, where people tend to buy more presents for people than any other time of the year. They should give it a name!