Not long ago we were talking about the arrival of the second beta of iOS 11.4 for developers, and one of the most interesting surprises is the fact that days ago we were talking about an extremely old product like the AirPort Express could receive an update to make it fully compatible with AirPlay 2, Apple's new wireless transmission system.
Well, it seems in the last pieces that iOS 11.4 beta 2 shows us, they completely disappear all the information about the AirPort Express. It is time to stop thinking that Apple is going to update old products for no apparent reason, nor is the Cupertino company capable of extending the support of its devices for so long.
The issue is that the AirPort Express was visible in the Home application (the one that manages all HomeKit products) as well as in the playback management system within the Control Center, something that has completely stopped happening with the arrival of the second beta of iOS 11.4. It is not the only device reluctant to update to Apple's new wireless data transmission protocol, so much so that even Sonos, the renowned wireless audio firm, still does not update its speaker software to make them AirPlay 2 compatible.
There are many benefits that Apple comments on this new system, but the reality is that they are not yet clearly visible, and we cannot say that AirPlay in its standard version does not work correctly. So, if you had an AirPort Express and you were hoping to take advantage of the drop in latency, the use of several devices at the same time and all that panacea that Apple promises with AirPlay 2, you are going to have to think about acquiring other types of devices. We will continue to test the beta and stay tuned for news.