Ridiculed AirPods are one of the key Apple products

While Apple may have seen the sale of iPhone stagnate recently, the much ridiculed AirPods, which is soon to get a successor, has become one of the company’s most important products.

The wireless, Bluetooth earbuds, which were introduced in late 2016, instantly became the fodder for Internet memes as people were quick to point out their concerns.

However, in 2019, Apple is planning to launch a successor to this device that has also inspired other audio companies to launch similar products of their own.

According to experts, the Airpods, which costs around $ 159, has been a herculean success story and has become a vital to the company’s future.

Once the butt of all jokes, this oddball wearable, however, has managed to prove its doubters wrong as it fits better than people expected and contains excellent technology.

Even Apple CEO Tim Cook, in the company’s earnings call, highlighted them as runway success. “This product is a runaway hit, and we’re working hard to meet the incredible demand,” he said.

The company, which mopped up around $ 10 billion in revenue from wearable segment between 2017 and 2018, was driven by Apple Watches and AirPods, Mr Cook had noted in an interview with CNBC to allay fears about weaker than expected iPhone sales.

“If you take AirPods and the Watch separately, and you sort of back these up and align it to the launch date of iPod… you would find that each one, independently, is, like, four to six times ahead of where iPod was at a comparable period of time,” he said.

Meanwhile, if the latest rumours are to believed, Apple may launch the next generation AirPods in its March event.

The event may also see the launch of the longawaited AirPower charging mat which is almost ready for launch.

The AirPods 2 is expected to come with a newer chip and an upgraded charging case. However, previous rumours had suggested that the next generation earbuds may only be launched in second half of 2019.