First AirPods Orders Begin Arriving in Australia and New Zealand as Apple Stores Begin Sales

It's Monday morning in New Zealand and Australia, which means the first customers who placed orders for Apple's new AirPods have begun receiving them according to reports from MacRumors readers.

Deliveries are taking place across the two countries now, and Apple retail stores in Australia have also begun selling AirPods to customers.

airpodsunboxed

AirPods that belong to MacRumors reader Sacha in New Zealand

In Australia, people who were hoping to get AirPods in store lined up early ahead of store openings, and as expected, supplies have been somewhat limited. At some stores, only a handful of AirPods were available, while others appear to have gotten more stock.

Customers who have received their AirPods are so far pleased with them. MacRumors reader Jason was impressed with how easy they were to sync and the sound quality. We'll have more first impressions a bit later as more customers receive their orders.

airpodsunboxing3

Impressed with the ease to sync and setup the AirPods with my iPhone. Nice.

The sound is a lot better than I had anticipated. It can go very loud. Overall, after testing for only 15 minutes or so, sound is a bit better than the EarPods I received with my iPhone 7 Plus, which I mostly pretty impressed with.

And they fit extremely well into my ear - really don't feel like they will fall out. Very snug!

Based on early information coming from Australia, customers in Asia, the United Kingdom, and the United States will likely want to get to Apple retail locations before they open for the best shot at getting a set on launch day.

Apple has said retail stores will receive regular stock going forward, and third-party retailers like Best Buy are also going to be receiving AirPods stock starting tomorrow.

AirPods orders in other countries will begin arriving as Monday morning arrives. For customers who were not able to pre-order, purchasing AirPods in the store will be the only way to get them before January, as orders placed today will not ship out for six weeks in many countries.

Related Roundup: AirPods 4
Buyer's Guide: AirPods (Buy Now)
Related Forum: AirPods

Popular Stories

New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

20 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Monday December 16, 2024 8:55 am PST by
Apple released iOS 18.2 in the second week of December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. Apple has added a handful of new non-AI related feature controls as...
apple tv 4k yellow bg feature

New Apple TV Rumored to Launch Next Year With These Features

Tuesday December 17, 2024 9:02 am PST by
The current Apple TV 4K was released more than two years ago, so the streaming device is becoming due for a hardware upgrade soon. Fortunately, it was recently rumored that a new Apple TV will launch at some point next year. Below, we recap rumors about the next-generation Apple TV. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman last week reported that Apple has been working on its own combined Wi-Fi and...
iphone 16 apple intelligence

Apple Drops Plans for iPhone Hardware Subscription Service

Wednesday December 18, 2024 11:39 am PST by
Apple is no longer planning to launch a hardware subscription service that would let customers "subscribe" to get a new iPhone each year, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman first shared rumors about Apple's work on a hardware subscription service back in 2022, and at the time, he said that Apple wanted to develop a simple system that would allow customers to pay a monthly fee to gain...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Rumored to Stick With 'Triangular' Camera Design

Wednesday December 18, 2024 2:36 am PST by
Contrary to recent reports, the iPhone 17 Pro will not feature a horizontal camera layout, according to the leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post on Weibo, the leaker said that a source has confirmed that while the appearance of the back of the iPhone 17 Pro has indeed changed, the layout of the three cameras is "still triangular," rather than the "horizontal bar spread on the...
elevation lab airtag battery

Your AirTag's Battery Will Last for Up to 10 Years With Elevation Lab's New TimeCapsule Enclosure

Wednesday December 18, 2024 10:05 am PST by
Elevation Lab today announced the launch of TimeCapsule, an innovative and simple solution for increasing the battery life of Apple's AirTag. Priced at $20, TimeCapsule is an AirTag enclosure that houses two AA batteries that offer 14x more battery capacity than the CR2032 battery that the AirTag runs on. It works by attaching the AirTag's upper housing to the built-in custom contact in the...
Apple TV 4K hero 221018 feature

Here is Everything New for the Apple TV in the tvOS 18.3 Update So Far

Tuesday December 17, 2024 6:25 am PST by
Apple on Monday seeded the first tvOS 18.3 beta to developers for testing. The update will likely be released in January. So far, there are only minor changes for the Apple TV, with one new feature and a few code changes discovered. Below, we outline what is new in tvOS 18.3 so far. Robot Vacuum Support in Home App First, tvOS 18.3 will add robot vacuum support to the Home app on the...
blackmagic vision pro

Blackmagic Debuts $30K 3D Camera for Capturing Video for Vision Pro

Monday December 16, 2024 4:17 pm PST by
Blackmagic today announced that its URSA Cine Immersive camera is now available for pre-order, with deliveries set to start late in the first quarter of 2025. Blackmagic says that this is the world's first commercial camera system designed to capture 3D content for the Vision Pro. The URSA Cine Immersive camera was first introduced in June, but it has not been available for purchase until...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature

'iPhone 17 Air' With 'Major' Design Changes and 19-Inch MacBook Detailed in New Report

Sunday December 15, 2024 9:47 am PST by
Apple is planning a series of "major design" and "format changes" for iPhones over the next few years, according to The Wall Street Journal's Aaron Tilley and Yang Jie. The paywalled report published today corroborated the widely-rumored "iPhone 17 Air" with an "ultrathin" design that is thinner than current iPhone models. The report did not mention a specific measurement, but previous...

Top Rated Comments

carlos916 Avatar
105 months ago
Probably get better battery life than our new MacBook Pros...
Score: 32 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Boardiesboi Avatar
105 months ago
I managed to get a pair from the Apple Store in Broadway in Sydney and have been testing them out for the last 15 mins.

Fit: Fits perfectly and there are no issues of them falling out. It just sat in my ear as I wandered around the house. They almost feel like they're not there cos they're so light.

Charging case: Standard Apple white plastic. Magnetic closure and snaps close very satisfyingly. The AirPods themselves also magnetically snap into their slots.

Sound: They do sound a bit clearer and better than the standard EarPods. I'm no audiophile but I'm very happy with the sound quality.

Connection: Took less than 5 seconds on the iPhone 7 plus. Opened the case and they automatically appeared on the phone screen. Opened my MacBook Pro and they showed up in less than 5 seconds under the bluetooth tab.

Transition between iPhone and MacBook:
Had music playing on the iPhone. Turned on the music on the MacBook and the music in the AirPods automatically stops. MB music plays through the speakers and doesn't automatically play in the AirPods though. You have to physically select AirPods in the bluetooth tab.
Opened the music app on the iPhone and the message "Looks like you're listening music on another device. To resume listening here, just press play". I did and the music from the iPhone came back into the AirPods.

Overall very happy with the purchase. I'm most satisfied with the simple connection and transition, and the fact that they fit perfectly with no risk of falling out.

Happy to take any questions :)



Attachment Image

Attachment Image

Attachment Image

Attachment Image
Score: 31 Votes (Like | Disagree)
peter2 Avatar
105 months ago
Do I see USB-A only? Com'on Apple, if you play your (very unwise, to put it diplomatically) games with connectors, at least be so polite to your customers that you provide cables compatible with all your bloody products!
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
69Mustang Avatar
105 months ago
C’mon earth!!! move faster round that damn sun!
Or you can do what I did. I had a friend in Australia buy them this morning. He shipped them 3 day air around the world counter clockwise so I received them last Friday. Been listening all weekend.:p:Do_O
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
thekeyring Avatar
105 months ago
So the sound is a bit better than the free one's, I should hope so.
They're not free.
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jgelin Avatar
105 months ago
C’mon earth!!! move faster round that damn sun!
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)