Apple's AirPods finally go on sale
After months of delays, Apple's wireless earbuds are finally available for purchase.
In what some Apple fans may consider a small holiday miracle, Apple on Tuesday released its new AirPods, wireless earbuds first announced back in September alongside the headphone jack-less iPhone 7.
The $159 earbuds were delayed in October, with Apple telling tech news site TechCrunch at the time that "we don’t believe in shipping a product before it’s ready, and we need a little more time before AirPods are ready for our customers.”
It is unclear what exactly has been changed or fixed, but it does appear that the earbuds will be in short supply. Within a few hours, Apple's online store has already listed the AirPods as shipping in four weeks, taking them well past Christmas delivery.
Apple will be bringing the AirPods to its retail stores, authorized resellers (such as Best Buy) and some wireless carrier stores next week, making that likely the best option for finding the wireless headphones before the holidays.
Apple had previously provided pre-production AirPods to tech reviewers to test alongside iPhone 7, with several praising the earbuds even though their design was a bit surprising. Paste BN's Ed Baig found they "sounded quite good and were a breeze to pair and charge."
Follow Eli Blumenthal on Twitter @eliblumenthal