AirPods could launch next week, according to this Apple reseller

AirPods

AirPods, Apple’s Bluetooth earphones featuring the company’s in-house designed W1 wireless chip, may be launching next week. That’s the gist of a new report Thursday from German blog Apfelpage.de. The publication cited Apple’s European reseller Conrad as confirming that it’ll receive stock of the delayed earphones on November 17.

Conrad will reportedly make the AirPods sellable by November 18-19. The AirPods were originally advertised with a “late October” launch date until Apple said it needed more time to work out the issues. Apple.com currently lists them tentatively as “coming soon”.

“The early response to AirPods has been incredible. 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,” said an Apple spokesperson recently.

Chinese newspaper Economic Daily News alleged that Apple’s first-ever wireless earphones won’t go on sale before January 2017, but now it seems they’ll be coming sooner than later. A customer who talked with an employee of the Conrad Online Store was reportedly informed that the retailer will begin selling the AirPods next week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdtHX15sXiU

The AirPods connect to Bluetooth devices like regular wireless headphones.

However, the smarts provided by the W1 chip are realized only when the AirPods are used with an Apple device. These perks include built-in Siri support (tap the headphones twice to converse with Siri), seamless pairing with Apple gadgets and more.

One simply opens the case and holds it near an iPhone to pair the AirPods. Pairing information is then pushed to all iCloud devices so you can simply select your AirPods in the AirPlay menu on any device without having to unpair/pair them.

The Apple-designed W1 chip also makes possible a five-hour battery life, but the provided charging case extends their run time to up to 24 hours. You charge the case itself through its built-in Lightning port.

Source: Apfelpage.de (Google Translate)