After months of delay, Apple's AirPods are available for you to order online for $159 (£159, AU$229), the company said Tuesday. The wireless headphones will be available in stores next week.
Apple introduced the AirPods at its iPhone 7 launch in September. The newest iPhones dropped the traditional headphone jack in favor of a Lightning connector or Bluetooth headphones like the AirPods. The AirPods were originally slated to be available in October, but Apple pushed the release back to an unspecified date.
"We don't believe in shipping a product before it's ready," Apple told CNET in October, "and we need a little more time before AirPods are ready for our customers."
Wireless has become the way of the world for much of the technology in consumers' hands and homes. Doing away with the cord that links a phone to its earpieces means one less snarl in your pocket. Still, Apple caused quite a stir when it eliminated the standard headphone jack that people had used since forever to connect their headphones.
The new Apple AirPods look like the EarPods that have come with iPhones for years, just without the wires -- not even a cable connecting the left and right earbud. They come with a charging case that doubles as a pocket-size storage unit and a battery booster that can top off the 5-hour battery life for another 3 hours in just 15 minutes.
Through its Beats subsidiary, Apple also sells bigger wireless headphones, including three all-new models that also debuted alongside the iPhone 7.
The AirPods are available in more than 100 countries and territories including the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Mexico and Japan.
