The Upgrade
AirPods Are Now One of Apple’s Most Important Products
As the iPhone becomes less relevant, the wearables will rise
Few Apple products have suffered the undue scorn and ridicule endured by AirPods.
Introduced in late 2016, Apple’s first wireless, Bluetooth earbuds were at first a joke and a meme machine. People thought they looked ridiculous and were certain they’d fall out of your ears and vanish without a trace.
Pictures of me wearing them from the launch event popped up here and there, often with an accompanying laughter emoji. College Humor called them “a legitimately terrible idea,” and perfectly summarized the key concerns (“you’re going to lose them IMMEDIATELY”; “one’s going to fall out of your ear and onto something gross”).
But more than two years and millions of units later, the $159 AirPods have become a Herculean success story. The accessory is now vital to Apple’s future, according to Tim Bajarin, a longtime Apple analyst and president of Creative Strategies, Inc.
“Voice is a new part of the man-to-machine interface, and getting info on demand through a headset tied to services is an important part of what will be [Apple’s] future AR strategy,” said Bajarin.
