Clearly a popular holiday item, the wireless ear buds from the iEmpire are reportedly no longer available at several major retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy, Target, and Walmart. Worst of all, it’s these retailers’ online inventories that appear to be depleted, so if you were hoping to do all of your shopping from the comfort of your own home … don’t hold your breath.
Although Apple’s AirPods certainly aren’t a new product (they’ve been around for over a year, ever since the company got rid of the headphone jack on its iPhones), they’re suddenly reaching a new high in terms of their popularity. Apple itself can’t seem to keep its earbuds in stock, and the company’s website currently notes that January 5 would be the soonest shipment date for them. And that’s no good if you’re attempting to get a gift in before Santa arrives.
But don’t get too nervous. If you’re willing to actually walk, bike, or drive out of your home, reports note that some brick and mortar locations are still carrying the accessory. Unsurprisingly, it’s the big cities like New York that appear to have inventory left in stock (in physical stores, that is).
There is one more option for folks desperate to get a pair before the weekend — Ebay is also selling (or perhaps reselling) the AirPods, but you’ll have to be prepared to pay quite the pretty penny. If you want to get them before January, you may be asked to pay somewhere in the $230 range, which is 44 percent more than you’d pay if you were willing to wait.
To be fair, this is actually par for the course when it comes to getting AirPods. Back in August, Apple CEO Tim Cook admitted that the headphones are often out of stock. “We have increased production capacity for AirPods and are working very hard to get them to customers as quickly as we can, but we are still not able to meet the strong level of demand,” he said. And this holiday season, that’s truer than ever.
