Dongles & AirPods emerge as most popular Apple products at Best Buy

Possibly to the retailer's chagrin, the bestselling Apple products at Best Buy may be accessories rather than the iPhones, iPads, and Macs they're made for.

During the past two years, the most popular Apple products overall have been the 3.5mm-to-Lightning adapter for headphones, and the 3.3-foot USB-C-to-Lightning cable, Ceros indicated on Friday. The situation appears to have switched up in the June quarter, but still saw AirPods take over first place.

As of Aug. 14, AirPods were holding on to the top spot, followed by the 3.5mm-to-Lightning adapter. The $999 base configuration of the MacBook Air ranked third.

iPhones may be doing better than it appears, as iPhone numbers are based on color and carrier combinations, Ceros noted. At the same time, most iPhone shoppers are believed to prefer Apple or carriers over third-party retailers.

Apple began omitting a 3.5mm jack on iPhones starting with 2016's iPhone 7, nudging buyers towards Bluetooth and Lightning instead. The move was controversial, as the 3.5mm format is still an audio industry standard, and indeed Apple has included the 3.5mm-to-Lightning adapter with all iPhones since then as a concession.

Multiple reports have suggested that Apple might not include the adapter with 2018 iPhone models, expected to be announced next month.

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46 Comments

mikethemartian

said about 5 years ago

Years ago I went into a Best Buy to buy an Airport Express and noticed that they were actually charging more than what it cost at the Apple Store. So I always avoided buying Apple merchandise from Best Buy after that. What I do buy there are the adapters since I usually need them quickly.

SpamSandwich

said about 5 years ago

Amazon, Costco, Target and Walmart are my go-to sources these days. Best Buy is a place I actively avoid.

freethinking

said about 5 years ago

You dont get rich by including useful ports in hardware.

AI_lias

said about 5 years ago

I admire Apple for having the cajones, before anyone else in the industry did, to leave behind people who still want to charge their phones at the same time as listening to the headphones (whether phone calls or music), and having yet another worry in the back of their mind about the battery lasting until they're done, or carrying and plugging in an adapter. Only Apple was in a position to do this, no one else could have pulled it off.