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If you had Microsoft's Surface Earbuds on your Christmas list this year, you might want to replace them with something else. The product has been delayed, and you won't be able to pick them up until spring 2020.
Product-making is about the relentless pursuit to get all the details right, which takes time…sometimes more than we planned on. To ensure we deliver the best possible experience for you, our fans & customers, Surface Earbuds will now launch worldwide in Spring 2020 #Surface
— Panos Panay (@panos_panay) November 21, 2019
Announced at Microsoft's October 2 hardware event, the Surface Earbuds were originally slated for later this year. They'll have integration with Office 365, voice commands with Cortana, and Android users can double-tap on them to play music with Spotify.
Microsoft didn't say why the Earbuds are being delayed, but it's worth noting that when Apple launched its own truly wireless earbuds, called AirPods, those also had to undergo significant delays. The reason for that was because there's no wire connecting the two earbuds, so it requires two separate Bluetooth streams that are perfectly synced but can't talk to each other. Bluetooth doesn't work through water, so an earbud on one side of your head can't talk to an earbud on the other side.
Presumably, these issues have been worked out across the board, since there are now a variety of companies that product truly wireless earbuds. And the good news is that if you want to use a competing product, you don't have to wait until the spring to get them.
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