AirPods Slip to 4 Week Delivery Estimates for Most Countries

After launching on Apple.com early yesterday with a delivery window somewhere between December 19 and December 22 for most countries, Apple's new wireless headphones have now slipped to 4 week delivery estimates for most launch countries and territories. Within 90 minutes, shipping windows for Apple's United States website slipped to 4 weeks yesterday, but most European countries held onto deliveries before Christmas for a while longer, as well as having estimates a few days ahead of U.S. customers.

Now, for most territories in Europe where the AirPods are available shipping dates have lengthened to 4 weeks, including: France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Italy, and more. Elsewhere around the world, Apple.com in Singapore, Japan, and Australia have all had their AirPods shipping estimates slip to 4 weeks into 2017. In total, AirPods are available in more than 100 countries.

airpods-image-new
When they debuted on Apple.com, the company noted that the first round of AirPods shipments would be available in "limited quantities," meaning many of its customers missed out on the opportunity to purchase the wireless headphones as Christmas presents. There remains a sliver of hope, however, with Apple noting that its retail stores will receive "regular AirPods shipments," but it's not clear which stores specifically, and when they'll begin getting the shipments. Apple authorized resellers and select carriers will also get some AirPods inventory next week.

Apple has also added a few support pages onto its website centering around how to use the AirPods, adjusting its features, and the device's various technical specifications.

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

Popular Stories

Apple Intelligence General Feature 2

Five Apple Intelligence Features Coming in 2025

Friday December 27, 2024 2:43 pm PST by
Even though iOS 18.1 and iOS 18.2 added multiple Apple Intelligence features like Image Playground, Genmoji, Writing Tools, and more, there are still new Apple Intelligence capabilities that we're waiting on. Apple has at least one more major Apple Intelligence update coming in 2025, and the functionality that we're expecting is outlined below. Priority Notifications Notification summaries...
AirTag and Lavender iPhone

AirTag 2 Launching Next Year With These New Features

Tuesday December 24, 2024 8:35 am PST by
Apple is expected to release an AirTag 2 next year, and a few new features and changes have already been rumored for the item tracker. Below, we recap what to expect from the AirTag 2: The new AirTag is expected to be equipped with Apple's second-generation Ultra Wideband chip for longer range. The chip debuted last year in the iPhone 15 and the Apple Watch Ultra 2, and Apple said it...
New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

22 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Monday December 23, 2024 6:30 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 plus teaser

Apple Teases Apple TV+ Surprise on January 4 and 5

Thursday December 26, 2024 10:35 am PST by
Apple this week began teasing some kind of upcoming Apple TV+ surprise that's set to happen on January 4 and January 5, telling customers to "stay tuned" and "save the date" in social media posts. Apple's images have a tagline that says "See for yourself," but it isn't clear what Apple has planned. Some users on Reddit have speculated that Apple might be planning to launch a promotion that...
apple wallet drivers license feature iPhone 15 pro

Apple Says iPhone Driver's Licenses Coming to These U.S. States Next

Tuesday December 24, 2024 10:49 am PST by
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, providing a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps. Below, we outline which U.S. states and territories offer the feature, and additional states that have committed to rolling it out in...
Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Rumored to Be Compatible With These iPhones

Sunday December 22, 2024 8:09 am PST by
iOS 19 will not drop support for any iPhone models, according to French website iPhoneSoft.fr. The report cites a source within Apple. The report said that iOS 19 will be compatible with any iPhone that is capable of running iOS 18, which would mean the following models: iPhone 16 iPhone 16 Plus iPhone 16 Pro iPhone 16 Pro Max iPhone 15 iPhone 15 Plus iPhone 15 Pro ...
Sudoku Apple News iOS 18

iOS 18.2 Added a New Game to Your iPhone

Saturday December 28, 2024 12:03 pm PST by
Starting with iOS 18.2, released earlier this month, Apple News+ subscribers in the U.S. have access to daily sudoku puzzles in the Apple News app. There are easy, moderate, and challenging difficulty levels for the daily puzzles. A scoreboard tracks your sudoku stats, including your total number of puzzles solved, fastest completion times per difficulty level, and more. Sudoku is the...
airpods pro 2 gradient

AirPods Pro 3 Expected Next Year: Here's What We Know

Monday December 23, 2024 4:18 am PST by
Despite being released over two years ago, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 continue to dominate the wireless earbud market. However, with the AirPods Pro 3 expected to launch sometime in 2025, anyone thinking of buying Apple's premium earbuds may be wondering if the next generation is worth holding out for. Apart from their audio and noise-canceling performance, which are generally regarded as...

Top Rated Comments

adamjackson Avatar
105 months ago




I think this image says a lot about where Apple is. You have to look at their product images to see their direction and while it's not one I currently buy into, it is much more mainstream than people on MacRumors are. Most of us are power-users but this is essentially Apple's way now.

An iPhone 7, Jet Black, no case, beautiful, thin and reflective. An eye catcher. an Aluminum watch w/ White sport band set to a very simple almost no value watch face..no widgets, guides, etc except how many times you moved today. AirPods sitting alone w/o any cables and a MacBook with an Apple Music subscription storing nothing locally, cloud, portability, not charging just sitting solo w/o cables hooked up to the Internet in full-screen mode (very iOS like).

Nothing about this image speaks to the professional in me with 8 external devices, a 1TB SSD, 32GB of RAM, all day battery life editing RAW images on an external display with a full-size mechanical keyboard and mouse.

It's almost like a fashion advert and not one on computing at least my definition of computing. But I am pretty sure Apple sells a ton of what's photoed here. The low-end apple watch, jet black iPhone, AirPods and the MacBook. This satisfied 99% of the computing needs for 99% of people who literally just use their devices for selfies, Facebook, Snapchat and youtube.

My GF has this setup except her notebook is a 13" MBP with the smallest SSD and 8GB of RAM and for her needs of shopping, emails and staying in touch with friends, it's overkill. She would be just fine with this setup. She is Apple's target audience.

I think we here on MR are out of touch with today's mainstream computing. No one needs 4 processor cores or 32 GB of RAM..not no one but the single digit percentage of us that do need these things is barely a blip on any company's radar when their goal is profitability.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
A MacBook lover Avatar
105 months ago
Aww man! The hateful negative comments on macrumors didn't work :(
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Zirel Avatar
105 months ago
Steve Jobs would never let this happen.

The Chinese HAVE to make these faster, even if they die doing so.

Tim Cook and Jony Ive must go, they need to make these thick and ugly so people don't buy.

/s
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
2457282 Avatar
105 months ago
I think this image says a lot about where Apple is. You have to look at their product images to see their direction and while it's not one I currently buy into, it is much more mainstream than people on MacRumors are. Most of us are power-users but this is essentially Apple's way now.

An iPhone 7, Jet Black, no case, beautiful, thin and reflective. An eye catcher. an Aluminum watch w/ White sport band set to a very simple almost no value watch face..no widgets, guides, etc except how many times you moved today. AirPods sitting alone w/o any cables and a MacBook with an Apple Music subscription storing nothing locally, cloud, portability, not charging just sitting solo w/o cables hooked up to the Internet in full-screen mode (very iOS like).

Nothing about this image speaks to the professional in me with 8 external devices, a 1TB SSD, 32GB of RAM, all day battery life editing RAW images on an external display with a full-size mechanical keyboard and mouse.

It's almost like a fashion advert and not one on computing at least my definition of computing. But I am pretty sure Apple sells a ton of what's photoed here. The low-end apple watch, jet black iPhone, AirPods and the MacBook. This satisfied 99% of the computing needs for 99% of people who literally just use their devices for selfies, Facebook, Snapchat and youtube.

My GF has this setup except her notebook is a 13" MBP with the smallest SSD and 8GB of RAM and for her needs of shopping, emails and staying in touch with friends, it's overkill. She would be just fine with this setup. She is Apple's target audience.

I think we here on MR are out of touch with today's mainstream computing. No one needs 4 processor cores or 32 GB of RAM..not no one but the single digit percentage of us that do need these things is barely a blip on any company's radar when their goal is profitability.
Very well articulated. Two thoughts on your statements. One is that it may be more than 1%, but I do find that the hardware that Apple is producing (and most companies at this point) continue to increase in power and capability to address significantly more and more users. So, if by my take, Apple is excluding 5% of the power users, it won't be long for that to shrink to your 1%. My second point, is that given that the hardware addresses so much of the user base, what is lacking is the software. Apple used to provide a great photo editing and management application in Aperture. Now we have Photos, not quite as good (but it has improved). Apple has an office suite, but is not meant for professionals and cannot compete with MS-Office. I could go on. The point is that even if the hardware is there, the software is probably only addressing 80% of users. The rest must invest in purchasing additional software to meet their needs. Although I get the anger from the pro users, I think that Apple is really missing the opportunity on the software side. If I have to buy MS-Office or Photoshop because the Apple software does not meet my needs, then I could just as easily buy them on a different platform. Apple needs to close this gap.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
miknos Avatar
105 months ago
I cannot imagine these staying securely in one's ears during exercise. Hope I'm wrong.
Saw three reviewers saying they stay in your ear without feeling like it's gonna fall when you're running or jumping around.

I would love to get a pair of those for my wife. She leaves the tv so loud at night I can't sleep. Sometimes I feel like killing her but for now I cannot spend extra money on insurance.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
shareef777 Avatar
105 months ago
I was excited about these until I got my 2016 MBP. Using that bug infested POS for the past month leaves little doubt that this is a sinking ship. For those that cry about negativity, I'll just say check my previous posts. I've been supporting the MBP before it was announced, and well after. But a month of first hand experience tells me that Apple just wants to get products out the door and $$$ into their pockets. They'll figure out the rest later. User experience is NOT their first goal. Sales/profits are. TCook era is well underway.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)