AirPods With Wireless Charging Case Delivery Date Slips to April

Just hours after Apple unveiled new second-generation AirPods with "Hey Siri" support and a new Wireless Charging Case, they've started selling out.

At launch, Apple listed a U.S. delivery date of March 27 to March 29 for the new $199 AirPods paired with the Wireless Charging Case, but now, those delivery estimates have slipped to April 2 to April 5.

airpodsaprildelivery
The $159 second-generation AirPods with a standard Charging Case continue to be available for March 27 to March 29 delivery, as does the standalone $79 Wireless Charging Case Apple introduced for current AirPods owners.

Those who want to pick up the new AirPods with Wireless Charging Case should do so soon, as historically, Apple has had trouble keeping its AirPods in stock due to high demand.

We may soon see these delivery estimates slip even further into April.

Apple's new second-generation AirPods do not bring exciting new features that were rumored like a new black color and health updates, but they're a solid upgrade over the previous version.

There's a new H1 wireless chip inside that powers hands-free "Hey ‌Siri‌" functionality so you don't need to tap to access the voice assistant.

Your AirPods are able to switch between devices two times faster when playing music, and there's an extra hour of talk time, bringing total talk time to three hours.

The new Wireless Charging Case allows the AirPods to charge using Qi-based wireless charging accessories, and it perhaps heralds the upcoming launch of the AirPower.

airpods2heysiri
Apple is designing its own wireless charging mat meant to charge AirPods, the iPhone, and the Apple Watch all at once, but it's not yet entirely clear when it will launch given the many delays since its 2017 introduction.

In the meantime, with no ‌AirPower‌, AirPods can charge on any Qi-based accessory that you might already have for your ‌iPhone‌.

Apple will likely have some stock of the new AirPods models in its retail stores next week for those who were unable to order and receive a March delivery date. If you order online, though, you can get your AirPods case engraved, a feature new to the second-generation model.

airpods2
We expect AirPods to be in stores right around March 25. The new AirPods require iOS 12.2, watchOS 5.2, and macOS Mojave 10.14.4, all of which are in beta testing right now. Those releases are expected on March 25, so AirPods could be in stores soon afterwards.

We're giving away a pair of AirPods to one lucky MacRumors reader, and you can enter to win in our AirPods roundup.

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

Popular Stories

iOS 18

Apple Expected to Release iOS 18.3 Next Week With These New Features

Thursday January 23, 2025 6:41 am PST by
iOS 18.3 should be released to the public next week, following beta testing since mid-December. While the software update is a relatively minor one, it still includes a handful of new features, changes, and bug fixes for iPhones. Below, we recap everything new in iOS 18.3. Notification Summary Changes Examples of inaccurate Apple Intelligence notification summaries Apple Intelligence...
iOS 18

5 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.3

Friday January 24, 2025 1:55 am PST by
Apple is set to release iOS 18.3 next week, bringing further refinements to Apple Intelligence features, a couple of neat new capabilities to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 devices, and bug fixes. While not quite as packed with new features as Apple's preceding iOS 18 point releases, iOS 18.3 still introduces capabilities that aim to make your iPhone smarter and more intuitive. Below, we've...
Generic iOS 18

iOS 18.4 Beta Coming Soon With These New Features for Your iPhone

Friday January 24, 2025 8:16 am PST by
iOS 18.3 is expected to be widely released next week, and that means the first iOS 18.4 beta for iPhones should be just around the corner. Apple has previously implied that iOS 18.4 will be released in April, as that is when it promised to make Apple Intelligence available in even more languages. Below, we outline what to expect from iOS 18.4 so far. Apple Intelligence for Siri Siri ...
Apple Pay Walmart Feature

Walmart Stands Firm on Why It Doesn't Accept Apple Pay in the U.S.

Thursday January 23, 2025 7:32 am PST by
Walmart still does not accept Apple Pay or other NFC payments at its more than 4,600 stores across the U.S., and it stood firm on its reasoning for that today. A spokesperson for Walmart today informed MacRumors that its position on contactless payments has not changed since we last reached out about the matter in 2022. The big-box retailer said it remains focused on its own convenient...
apple tv 4k new orange

New Apple TV Launching This Year With These New Features

Wednesday January 22, 2025 6:01 pm PST by
A new Apple TV is expected to be released later this year. In this article, we recap rumored features and changes for the device. The next Apple TV will be equipped with Apple's own combined Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. He said the chip supports Wi-Fi 6E, which would be an upgrade over the current Apple TV's standard Wi-Fi 6 support. Wi-Fi 6E extends the...
iOS 18

Here Are Apple's Full Release Notes for iOS 18.3

Tuesday January 21, 2025 4:31 pm PST by
Apple provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 18.3 today, and with it comes release notes confirming what's new. While we knew about several of the features that are in the update, there are some lesser known tweaks and bug fixes. The update adds new Visual Intelligence features for iPhone 16 models, it tweaks Notification summaries on all...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Horizontal Single Feature

Kuo: iPhone 17 Models Won't Have Smaller Dynamic Island

Friday January 24, 2025 9:09 am PST by
The upcoming iPhone 17 models that Apple plans to release this year will not feature a smaller Dynamic Island, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said today. On social media, he said that he is expecting the size of the Dynamic Island to remain "largely unchanged" across the iPhone 17 lineup. His statement is contrary to prior rumors that we've heard about planned changes for the iPhone 17 models. ...
iPhone 16 Apple Store Levels

Gurman: Apple Stores Receiving 'Merchandise' Updates Next Week

Saturday January 25, 2025 5:07 pm PST by
Apple's retail stores will be rolling out "merchandise/floor marketing updates" next week, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman did not explicitly say if the store updates are related to any upcoming product announcements, but he did mention that next week is around the time that Apple rolls out its annual Black Unity watch band for the Apple Watch. In each of the past four years, ...
apple power beats pro 2

Apple's First Product Announcement of 2025 is Imminent

Thursday January 23, 2025 2:48 pm PST by
It's also time for Apple's first product announcement of the year. Last year, Apple said it would be launching Powerbeats Pro 2 in 2025, and the wireless earbuds are expected to launch very soon. Powerbeats Pro 2 images found in iOS 18 code In his Power On newsletter last weekend, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the Powerbeats Pro 2 are "due imminently." In addition to Apple filing the...

Top Rated Comments

asdavis10 Avatar
77 months ago
Not surprised. Apple needs more AirPods type products. Feature-rich, reasonably priced (if not under-priced), and work as advertised. AirPods define the "it just works" that made many of us love Apple. We need more of this.
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AngerDanger Avatar
77 months ago
No dire rush for me. I'll just wait unit the true 2nd Gen ones are releases next year.
These ones include a new chip, the H1, enabling Hey Siri and 50% more talk time. They also can be purchased with a wirelessly charging case. I don't know why you don't consider these "true" second generation AirPods.

EDIT: Apple's newsroom release ('https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/03/airpods-the-worlds-most-popular-wireless-headphones-are-getting-even-better/') describes them as second generation:
Cupertino, California — Apple today announced new AirPods, the second generation of the world’s most popular wireless headphones.
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
The Don Onez Avatar
77 months ago
No dire rush for me. I'll just wait unit the true 2nd Gen ones are releases next year.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
deebinem Avatar
77 months ago
AirPods define the "it just works" that made many of us love Apple.
Except on those occasions when they don't hand over correctly... or aren't recognized by my watch even though I just got done with a phone call I initiated from the watch, resulting in having to restart both the watch and phone... or the strange audio drop outs that seem to occur at random times, making it hard to pinpoint actions that might be contributing to said drop outs...

Don't get me wrong, I love these things but there are certainly times when I don't.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gugy Avatar
77 months ago
I have the first generation AirPods and I see no compelling reason to upgrade.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dan9700 Avatar
77 months ago
3 years for such a small update apple has lost the plot
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)