Apple's AirPods are on sale now

Apple's wireless headphones the AirPods are now available to buy, hitting the company's UK store website at £159.

This comes after numerous delays to the product, with many speculating that they were unlikely to be available before 2017.

Back in October, Apple said it needed "a little more time" before the AirPods were ready to be released. Which meant they missed their original launch date of the end of October. According to sources speaking to The Wall Street Journal, it was due to a design issue that's keeping the AirPods from the shop shelves, not a manufacturing problem, as previously thought.

MORE: Apple AirPods hands-on review

The issue seemed to be Apple's groundbreaking new technology. With most wireless headphones, just one headphone has to stay connected to the source via Bluetooth. It then transmits the signal to the other headphone. But AirPod earpieces each received independent signals from the iPhone (or other source).

Unfortunately, this doesn't extend to Apple's other wireless headphones the BeatsX; according to MacRumors, they are still facing delays, with the publication quoting an email from a reseller, telling a customer that it will be "at least two to three months" before the headphones ship.

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Joe Svetlik

Joe has been writing about tech for 17 years, first on staff at T3 magazine, then in a freelance capacity for Stuff, The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, Men's Health, GQ, The Mirror, Trusted Reviews, TechRadar and many more (including What Hi-Fi?). His specialities include all things mobile, headphones and speakers that he can't justifying spending money on.