AirPods Release Date: Reportedly Coming Just Before the Holidays, But There's a Catch

The AirPods, Apple’s wireless earphones, might be released right before Christmas, according to comments made by Apple journalist John Gruber reported by Apple Insider.

The AirPods are rumored to be released barely making it to retail for holiday shoppers, according to Gruber. The wireless earphones will be released but in very limited quantities, he added.

"They are getting very close to missing the holidays," said Gruber, Apple Insider reported on Monday. "I have heard just in the last 24 hours, not from like a very well placed little birdie but from a birdie, that there's a possibility, that there are whispers in Apple, among people who work at Apple retail, that they might actually come in 'the next few days.'"

This could back up an alleged late November email from Tim Cook obtained by Mac Rumors in which the Apple CEO said the AirPods will allegedly begin shipping over the “next few weeks.”

The AirPods’ release date has been delayed because Apple is apparently having trouble syncing audio between the two separate wireless earphones, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. Apple is also working on what to do when a user loses one of the earphones, or if the battery dies in just one of the ear pieces.

Apple has the AirPods listed on its website for $159, but the earphones are currently marked as “coming soon," with no released date listed.

The AirPods were announced during Apple’s September event alongside the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. The earphones were supposed to launch in late October, but the company said it still needed “a little more time before AirPods are ready for our customers."