Why Apple's wireless networking device series AirPort became history
Apple's AirPort series, launched in 2003, was completely discontinued in 2018 due to changing company priorities and increasing technological competition.
The AirPort wireless networking and router series, whose first model Apple released in 2003, was completely shelved in 2018 as a result of changing company priorities and falling behind in technological competition.
The birth of the AirPort series
Before the iPhone entered our lives, Apple started selling its own wireless routers and network storage products by releasing the first AirPort model in 2003.
AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule
While AirPort Extreme models offered wireless network connectivity along with network-based storage, Time Capsule enabled Mac users to perform network-based backups with its built-in hard drive.
The team was disbanded and sales ended
Apple disbanded the team working on AirPort products in 2016 and completely ended the sales of the products two years later.
Financial changes and priorities
In 2016, the company's sales and profit declined for the first time in many years; along with the drop in iPhone sales, total sales decreased by 8 percent and the focus shifted to high-revenue products.
Slow-paced hardware updates
While wireless networking technologies developed rapidly and rival manufacturers transitioned to next-generation standards, Apple's routers did not receive hardware updates at the same pace.
Time Capsule and macOS compatibility
Network backup support via Time Machine, which was one of the prominent features of Time Capsule, largely lost its significance with new macOS versions.
Modem and chip development strategy
While Apple gave up manufacturing external routers, it turned to integrating core connectivity components such as cellular modems and the N1 chip into its own devices to reduce its reliance on Qualcomm.