Spotted first by 9to5 Toys on Friday, Apple’s website had a 4-pack of Apple AirTags priced at the incredible price of $29. That would be a whopping 70% discount off the regular price of $99 for the 4-pack of AirTags, and was even cheaper than Amazon’s pricing of 4 AirTags for $64. There were some quick-thinking consumers who realized what they were seeing and took advantage of what most assumed was a great sale by Apple.
The online Apple Store had a 4-pack of AirTags priced at the incredible price of $29
Not only are we closing in on the Black Friday kickoff to the holiday shopping season, which would be a valid reason to expect a price cut from Apple, the second-generation AirTags could possibly be released before the end of this year. That would be another great reason why Apple could take an ax to current AirTag prices. But there were some clues that the steep price cut for the 4-pack might not be legit.
Perhaps the biggest clue that something had gone awry with the online Apple Store was the price listed for one individual AirTag, which remained at $29. So, let’s see. On one hand you can spend $29 for one AirTag or pay the same $29 and get four item trackers. Most people would choose the 4-pack of AirTags since it would leave them with three additional tags for the same price.
Apple screws up and accidentally lists the 4-pack of AirTags for $29 instead of $99. | Image credit-MacRumors
Well, as it turns out, the incredible $29 price for a 4-pack of AirTags was a mistake and fairly quickly Apple fixed the incorrect pricing on the website. A few hours later, the tech giant starting canceling purchases that were made at the incorrect price. Apple suggests that if you did order the 4-pack for $29, you should check your order status.
Deliveries were pushed back to early December indicating strong demand at the incorrect price
Hmm. I wonder how many 4-Packs Apple sold at $29. I know that when I get up on a Friday morning my first thought is to turn on the desktop and head over to the Apple Store just to check out the price of AirTags. I’m sure that this is your first thought each Friday morning, too. But it does appear that thanks to word of mouth, quite a few sales were made at the sharply lower price. Considering that deliveries for the 4-pack of AirTags were pushed back to a range of late November to early December, it would appear that Apple was facing a potentially large loss of revenue.
If you’re thinking that Apple had no right to cancel the orders placed at the wrong price, you’d be wrong. In the legalese found in the web page titled Apple Store Purchase Policies, Apple wrote, “Apple reserves the right to change prices for products at the Apple Store at any time, and to correct inadvertent pricing errors.” This allows Apple to do what it did to some orders; with other orders that it didn’t cancel, Apple merely raised the price from $29 to $99.
Apple cancels some orders, raises the price to $99 on others.
If that Apple Store policy isn’t enough to quash your indignation about having your order erased, another line in the Apple Store policies page states, “Apple may refuse or cancel any order or limit order quantity.” Having said all this, some customers were able to physically receive their 4-pack of AirTags that they paid $29 for before Apple realized what had occurred. They accomplished this by rushing to the Apple Store to pick up their orders, and some even used couriers to have their orders delivered to them.
In case you were unable to get the AirTags for the accidentally discounted pricing, you might want to wait for the AirTags 2 (code-named B589). This model will reportedly include support for the second-generation Ultra Wideband (UWB) chip. This s the same UWB chip used on iPhone 15 and later models. The new chip is expected to triple the range of the AirTag’s Precision Finding feature to 30-90 meters (98 to 295 feet).
This should make it easier for the second-generation AirTags to find missing and lost tagged items in parks, parking garages, and even airport terminals.
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