Apple's external optical drive 'SuperDrive' for Macs is out of stock and will soon be discontinued

Apple has been selling the SuperDrive , an external optical drive that can be connected to a Mac, but it has already run out of stock at the official online Apple Store, and it has been reported that production may soon be discontinued.

Apple's SuperDrive for reading disks seemingly discontinued
https://9to5mac.com/2024/08/05/apple-superdrive-discontinued/

The SuperDrive is an Apple-branded external optical drive that was introduced in 2008 when the MacBook Air, the first MacBook without an optical drive, was released. By connecting it to a Mac via a USB cable, it is possible to play and create CDs and DVDs. At the time of writing, it seems that downloads, streaming, Blu-ray, etc. are more commonly used than CDs and DVDs in various fields such as music, video, software, and games, but Apple has continued to sell the SuperDrive, perhaps because it discontinued the built-in optical drive from all MacBooks in 2013.

However, it has been revealed that the SuperDrive is 'sold out' in several official online stores, including the US Apple Store . The SuperDrive is also sold out in the Japanese Apple Store. However, the UK and Brazilian Apple Stores are still showing the product as 'in stock' at the time of writing.

Apple USB SuperDrive - Apple (Japan)
https://www.apple.com/jp/shop/product/MD564ZM/A/apple-usb-superdrive

Therefore, 9to5Mac points out that 'while the SuperDrive is listed as in stock in some regions, it's clear that the product will soon disappear from stores.' 'Given that the SuperDrive was released in 2008, it's highly unlikely that Apple will ever manufacture it again.'

In fact, the SuperDrive only supports USB Type-A and has the disadvantage of only operating at USB 2.0 data transfer speeds. In addition, it does not support Blu-ray disc playback or burning, so at the time of writing, third-party external optical drives other than Apple are clearly more convenient.

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