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AirPods (3rd generation), Apple Polishing Cloth, HomePod Mini (yellow, orange, blue), MacBook Pro (2021) and MagSafe Charging Case for AirPods Pro

Apple announced five products on 26 October 2021: AirPods (3rd generation), Apple Polishing Cloth, HomePod Mini (yellow, orange, blue), MacBook Pro (2021) and MagSafe Charging Case for AirPods Pro. The day spanned Accessories, AirPods, HomePod and Mac.

It was the 6th of 6 dated moments the archive holds for 2021, 18 days after the previous one, 8 October 2021.

AirPods (3rd generation) product photograph

SimplyPops · CC0

What Apple announced

AirPods (3rd generation)

AirPods · Headphones · discontinued 9 September 2024

AirPods are wireless Bluetooth earbuds designed by Apple. They were first announced on September 7, 2016, alongside the iPhone 7, and the 2016 MacBook Pro. Within two years, they became Apple's most popular accessory. AirPods are Apple's entry-level wireless headphones, sold alongside the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max.

In addition to playing audio, the AirPods contain a microphone that filters out background noise as well as built-in accelerometers and optical sensors capable of detecting taps and pinches (e.g. double-tap or pinch to pause audio) and placement within the ear, which enables automatic pausing of audio when they are taken out of the ear.

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Apple Polishing Cloth

Accessories · Cleaning aid · in production

The Polishing Cloth is a small piece of off-white microfiber cloth sold by Apple Inc. since October 2021 as a screen-cleaning aid for its devices with displays. It is intended as a replacement for the cloth included with the Pro Display XDR, and can be used to clean products that have a "nano-texture glass" matte-like display option, such as the Apple Studio Display, iMacs, iPads, and MacBooks.

The cloth gained media attention due to its high $19 retail price. The New York Times described its pricing as "bold even by Apple’s standards, a company whose legions of loyal customers are conditioned to stomach steep prices." Nonetheless, it was Apple's most back-ordered product in October 2021, with delivery times of several months. The cloth and its popularity were soon the subject of numerous jokes in the media and on social media. Gizmodo criticized media outlets for excessive reporting on the cloth, saying it was essentially free advertising.

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HomePod Mini (yellow, orange, blue)

HomePod · Speakers · in production

The HomePod Mini (stylized as HomePod mini) is a smart speaker developed by Apple. It utilizes Apple's Siri digital assistant. It was released on November 16, 2020 as a smaller and less expensive version of Apple's HomePod.

MacBook Pro (2021)

Mac · MacBook Pro · discontinued 17 January 2023

The archive holds no written summary for this product. Its photographs, family, and dates are on its product page.

AirPods (3rd generation) product photograph
AirPods (3rd generation)

SimplyPops · CC0

Apple Polishing Cloth product photograph
Apple Polishing Cloth

Jös · CC BY-SA 4.0

HomePod Mini (yellow, orange, blue) product photograph
HomePod Mini (yellow, orange, blue)

Arne Müseler · CC BY-SA 3.0 de

MacBook Pro (2021) product photograph
MacBook Pro (2021)

Premeditated · CC BY-SA 4.0

MagSafe Charging Case for AirPods Pro product photograph
MagSafe Charging Case for AirPods Pro

James Tamim · CC BY-SA 4.0

Also in 2021

Sources

  1. AirPods (3rd generation) · Wikipedia
  2. Apple Polishing Cloth · Wikipedia
  3. HomePod Mini (yellow, orange, blue) · Wikipedia
  4. MacBook Pro (2021) · Wikipedia
  5. MagSafe Charging Case for AirPods Pro · Wikipedia

Dates on this page are announcement dates, not shipping dates. Product summaries are drawn from the linked articles, and specification claims in them are the publisher’s, not independent testing. Photograph credits and licences are listed in full on the image credits page.