We saw Apple’s SuperDrive go out of stock on Apple’s U.S. online retail store a few months back, and now MacRumors has confirmed that it is listed as either sold out or unavailable in Apple online stores around the globe. It appears that the Mac accessory has reached the end of its 16 year old run.
Apple debuted the SuperDrive external CD/DVD drive back in 2008 alongside the original MacBook Air, which lacked a built-in CD/DVD drive. While the external CD/DVD drive used an outdated USB-A cable for connectivity, the SuperDrive remained available on the Apple online retail store until a few months ago, making it one of Apple’s longest-sold products.
CD and DVD drives have become passé over the years, as internet speeds became faster, eliminating the need for CD/DVD drives to view video and install software. Internet speeds have reached a point where both full-length 4K movies and large software suites can be downloaded in minutes or even seconds.
This made CD/DVD drive a niche market, limited to users that have a large library of CDs and DVDs, or that wish to install older applications and games from a CD or DVD. Apple’s SuperDrive was also much more expensive than drives offered by third-party vendors, and many of those external drives boast a USB-C connector, meaning they do not require an adapter to work with current Macs and many Windows desktop and laptop PCs, which do not offer USB-A connectivity.
Apple in February added the mid-2022 model of the 13-inch MacBook Pro to its obsolete products list worldwide. The mid-2022 model of the 13-inch MacBook Pro was the last model to be equipped with a internal CD/DVD drive to be sold by Apple. The MacBook Pro model remained available for sale until October 2016 as a lower-price option, making it a bit surprising that the SuperDrive remained on sale this long.