Apple Has Reportedly Abandoned Development of Its AirPort Wireless Routers

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Posted November 21, 2016 at 2:47pm by iClarified

Apple has disbanded the division that develops wireless routers, abandoning the AirPort lineup of routers popular with Mac customers, reports Bloomberg.

Apple began shutting down the wireless router team over the past year, dispersing engineers to other product development groups, including the one handling the Apple TV, said the people, who asked not to be named because the decision hasn’t been publicly announced.

Apple hasn't refreshed its routers since 2013 and disbanding the team likely means the company isn't planning to unveil new ones. Currently, Apple sells three routers, the AirPort Express, AirPort Extreme, and AirPort Time Capsule.

Although Apple's wireless routers don't have as many options as some third party devices, their compatibility with the company's Macs, iPhones, and other devices made them a good choice. Hopefully, Apple will partner with another company to offer a product tailored to its products similar to how it worked with LG to unveil new monitors after discontinuing the Cinema Display.

An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment on the report.

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Apple Has Reportedly Abandoned Development of Its AirPort Wireless Routers

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SimonSays - November 22, 2016 at 3:46pm

This sucks. Love my time capsule! It's the only router that never needs to be rebooted because it's frozen or doesn't work. I've had netgear, linksys, d-link and Asus and they all freeze every few days needing a reboot. Not the airport!

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Meow - November 21, 2016 at 10:47pm

No surprise since they haven't had firmware upgrade for over several years on top of hardware

SimonSays - November 22, 2016 at 3:47pm

That's because there is nothing wrong with them to need a firmware update/bug fix.

lepaka - November 21, 2016 at 7:45pm

I have 2 Extreme and 1 Express still older versions, only n protocol, but they are the best in the marked. ZERO problems, ZERO necessities for whatever configurations ... the best wireless routers available on the market :)

ShadowOne - November 21, 2016 at 4:36pm

Good riddance. I've had a couple of their routers before but they were extremely inflexible with the network configurations. Totally not worth the premium that they charged.

matrixmaniac - November 21, 2016 at 4:07pm

uh... and what about time capsule?

lepaka - November 21, 2016 at 7:46pm

they are a Airport with an internal HD. it means they are also obsolete

Ke.x - November 21, 2016 at 4:00pm

Holy cow! I was not a big fan of Apple routers but still they are canceling one product after another without offering any sort of replacements. This is so bad! This is so bad!

SayingWhatEveryonesThinking - November 21, 2016 at 3:00pm

Apple is ditching the products and features we love. Headphone jack, MagSafe, ports without adapters, and now AirPort. What's next? The iMac?

Kk - November 21, 2016 at 3:33pm

Dont forget the macbook air. They also ditched that.. Everything that Steve innovated, they are slowly getting rid of it. Because Steve's works were not gimmicks. They don't want innovation anymore. They want gimmicks. That is why they are getting rid of whats innovative.. R.I.P apple

nono09 - November 21, 2016 at 2:55pm

Sad news. Thats the only router I had which I dont have to reboot from time to time. Apple one runs solid without touch probably over 2 years.

ShadowOne - November 21, 2016 at 4:39pm

Totally opposite experience here. The Airport Extreme was the only router that I had to reboot almost every week.

lepaka - November 21, 2016 at 7:50pm

I have the same experience as you, my ones, I don't even remember when I needed to do a restart or unconnected from power, probably since I move in to this apartment, 3 years ago. Always pumping WI-FI power