The company is officially discontinuing its AirPort and Time Capsule base stations. An Apple spokesperson told Engadget that the company would continue to provide hardware and software support (such as patching bugs and vulnerabilities), but the devices themselves will only be available "while supplies last." The tech giant will post a series of knowledge base documents over the next few weeks to help guide customers wondering what to buy.
While Apple wasn't specific about the reasons for discontinuing the AirPort range, it's not hard to understand why: simply speaking, WiFi has become a commodity. Apple introduced its AirPort line in 1999, when any wireless networking was a luxury. Flash forward nearly two decades later and it's a different story. WiFi routers are so commonplace that many internet providers give you a modem with the technology built in, and even the lowest-priced routers are adequate for most uses. High-end users, meanwhile, have an abundance of choices that includes both ridiculously fast conventional routers as well as mesh routers with greater coverage.
