According to a new Bloomberg report, Apple is exiting the router business. Bloomberg report that, over the last year, Apple has started to shutter the division, which made the AirPort Express, AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule products, instead opting to put engineers on other projects, including the Apple TV.
Image: Composite/Apple
In some ways, this shouldn’t be a surprise — Apple hasn’t updated the AirPort Extreme or Time Capsule since the winter of 2013. Still, its interesting that as companies such as Google and Eero get into the wireless mesh network business, Apple would abandon the ecosystem.
Moreover, this is sad news for anyone who ever had to buy a parent or less technical friend a wireless router. AirPort routers are expensive, and you can certainly find routers that perform better. But the routers are also known for being easy to use, especially if you have a lot of Apple products in your house.
We may never know why Apple is abandoning the router game. Like first-party external monitors, it looks like this niche market just isn’t one Apple cares to be about any more. The good news is that there are a ton of exciting alternatives, which is not something you could’ve said about routers two years ago.