But this plan, like England’s attempts to shut down Lionel Messi, was sadly doomed. Last week, multiple retailers were found to be carrying listings for the headphones (which we now know will be called the Beats 360), including dozens of photos and comprehensive product details. Noise cancellation, battery claims, IP rating, Android compatibility, color options, U.S. and U.K. pricing… we appear to know it all. Which will totally ruin the surprise when Apple makes its official announcement.
This isn’t the first and won’t be the last time that a retailer accidentally sets a product listing live too early. But for this to happen simultaneously on so many sites suggests a more fundamental error. It feels like blasphemy even to suggest it, but it’s possible that Apple itself was at fault, and it will be interesting to see how the company tries to recover the situation. If the product is ready to ship, as the listings appear to imply, then it might make sense to bring the launch forward and make the most of the publicity. You might even see the Beats 360 on Apple’s website by the time this article appears.
Bizarrely, the Beats 360 debacle was the second major Apple leak of last week. On Monday, it was noticed that the macOS 26.7 release candidate code contained an instructional video for an unreleased set of camera-equipped AirPods. This was as unintentionally helpful as a leak could be: a professional-quality video of an Apple representative showing us the product and how it works. A clumsier gaffe is hard to imagine.
In this case, Apple doesn’t have the option to seize the initiative and rush the product out the door. It’s been reported that production delays mean the AirPods won’t be ready until late 2027. (The video was made well in advance because at one stage Apple hoped to announce the launch this year, before those delays became apparent.) This means Apple faces more than 12 months with a video floating around the Internet that spoils one of its biggest reveals. It’s a nightmare.
Apple is known as a secretive company, but secrecy isn’t something that scales very easily. As the company’s manufacturing supply chain grew larger, so did the opportunity for leakers to gain access to photos of components and dummy units. More secrets were spilled when employees had to take materials home during Covid. And there is sufficient internal discontent for the leaking of memos to have become a problem, which Tim Cook complained about in another memo (which was itself leaked, inevitably).
The Cook era is drawing to a close, and it remains to be seen whether incoming CEO John Ternus will emulate his predecessor or forge a new relationship with the media. Perhaps he will lock down those secrets like never before; perhaps he will be more transparent. Either approach could work. But the main thing is for the company to stop scoring own goals.
