Is Airport Networking hardware dead?

[stanw]

I think I read something about this a while ago, though Im not sure if Apple ever made an official announcement on it? Is Apple still making Airport wireless routers? Do they still support them?

Id like to get a new wireless router that has very good signal strength to cover my house/backyard. I also need some solution similar to what Airport Express does with printing. Can anyone recommend some alternatives that work well with Apple devices?

Thanks.

 

[steve62388]

It was a bit weird. Apple never officially announced they were pulling out, it was a rumour and everybody sort of shrugged their shoulders and accepted it. They certainly don't seem to be keen in producing new products in the range, nothing has been updated for ages.

 

[Fishrrman]

I believe the word was that Apple disbanded the Airport development team.

I'm going to -guess- that we're not going to see any more "Airport Extreme" or "Airport Express" products from Apple. The existing products will probably get software updates for, say, the next 4-5 years.

Whether that means the end of their networking product line is unknown.
Perhaps they'll come out with something else in the future, perhaps their own version of "mesh wifi"...?

I have an old (flat) Airport Extreme that has worked flawlessly for 6+ years now. Still runs "good enough".

But... I'm hankerin' for something "newer". I've got my eye on the Netgear "Orbi" system, probably will pick one up in the next few months.

"Mesh networking" looks to be the future for home use.
Whether Apple intends to enter this market, can't say.
They may just "cede the market" to others, as they recently did with their displays, and as they did with printers years ago...