Apple CEO Tim Cook Tells iPhone 7 Customer To Wait A Few More Weeks For Delayed AirPods

AirPods, which are wireless Bluetooth headphones that were announced alongside the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus in September, were originally supposed to launch in October. However, as it became clear that the AirPods wouldn’t meet the October launch window, Apple issued the following statement:

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.

Since that time, Apple has been radio silent. One customer, however, decided to fire off an email to Cook to see what the holdup was. Here’s the email in full sent to Cook:

Give us a release date. I really bought in to the wireless vision you painted. Now I'm stuck waiting with my EarPods but can't charge my 7 at the same time which I need to do at work. Let us know if it's a month or 6 months, because then I'll just buy some other wireless headphones.

Despite the somewhat demanding tone of the customer email, Cook actually did respond back, writing, "Thanks for your note. Sorry for the delay---we are finalizing them and I anticipate we will begin to ship over the next few weeks."

So, will Apple be able to ship the AirPods before Christmas, or even before the end of the year? Cook seems to suggest that all signs point to yes, but we’ve been down this road before.

AirPods are priced at $159 and come with their own recharging battery case. Each individual AirPod can last up to five hours per charge, while the battery case provides an additional 24 hours of battery life.