Active iPhone 7 generation phones in use - 200 million (Approximately)
Total active iPhones in use - 800 million (Approximately)
Total AirPods in use - 1 million (Approximately, taken from this article)
% of iPhone 7 generation owners who also own an AirPod - ~0.5%
% of all iPhone owners who also own an AirPod - ~0.125%
Looking at the big picture, the questions that I have:
i) Is "wireless" the "Future" as told by Apple for eliminating the 3.5mm jack? Is it valid anymore, with 99.5% of the people using the "much derided" outdated old technology - wired headphones, instead of embracing the future - i.e. "wireless headphones"?
ii) Don't we have enough evidence already that Apple users (forgetting about tech media/critics etc for a moment) have NOT bought into the "wireless future" that Apple was portraying, with their wallets, with just <1% of them buying into the idea?
iii) Many people in this forum claimed that "wireless is the future". Do you agree that the "actual sales" for about 8 months suggest otherwise, at least for now in 2017? Has "wireless" really arrived? Wasn't Apple putting the horse before the cart?
iv) For those who would argue that the low quantity in sales is due to manufacturing capacity being extremely limited - If the demand for AirPods was 200 million instead of 2 million for the entire year 2017, wouldn't Apple have ramped up production to meet the extra-ordinarily high demand, at least not as low as 1 million for 8 months?
Let me make this clear - I am not saying Airpods are bad. I don't have any clue because I have not bought them or used them. Going by the positive comments from the actual users, it seems to be pretty good. That is besides the point. The actual question is - Is wireless headphones the "future" as claimed by Apple and many people in this forum?
Interesting question.
The short answer IMO is no.
Wireless headphones have been around long enough for them to displace wired units but that never happened. The reasons are various and Apple has tried to remove some of those reasons but underlying reasons still remain.
For Air Pods, price is probably the first of those. Then I'd say convenience. Wired phones will always work. There is no guarantee that Air Pods will continue working fully with newer hardware x years down the line. They should of course and I cannot imagine why they won't, but this is the kind of thing people take into account when buying products in this price range. 'Fit' is also a problem for some people. The 'look' will possibly put some people off too. Then there are doubts about losing or misplacing one.
On a broader scale 'wireless' will be the future I'm sure, but probably not in the short term or at least until they start shipping them in the box.
Until then, it's great to have the option and they will only get better.
Your statements make it sound like AirPods are the only wireless headphones in existence. They aren't. One needn't worry about losing half of their normal wireless headphones (Beats, etc).
Also, I don't know a single person who has ever worried that Bluetooth isn't going to be supported in future OS versions. Not a single person ever. At that point you may as well be worried about meteors ending civilization -- yeah, it could happen. No, I'm not going to spend a second worrying about it.
Yes, the wireless headphones are certainly the future. Headphone sales by revenue already indicate it's trending there now -- people are willing to spend, and they are.
As Apple itself has stated, AirPods are more than Bluetooth. You can use them as simple BT devices out of the Apple ecosystem but by doing so, 'you lose the magic'.
That has nothing to do with what we're talking about. When people ask if "wireless is the future", it is irrespective of platform-specific extras. You suggested they aren't the future because people will be worried about it not being guaranteed down the line. But AirPods and all non-W1 chip headphones are Bluetooth, and will always work down the line.
You need to accept that wireless != AirPods. Yes, wireless is the future. With or without AirPods.
You need to read my post again. Yes, that was one of the suggestions and I even said that it shouldn't be an issue, but that doesn't mean some people won't see it as an issue and not buy. And I mentioned that point precisely because of the non Bluetooth functionality (where Apple says the 'magic' is). It was you who mentioned the Bluetooth only part. I made it very clear that that part of the comment was specific to Air Pods, NOT wireless in general.
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