How long after a product's initial launch do you wait before you buy?

When Samsung announced its truly wireless headphones, the Galaxy Buds+, earlier this year the company debuted the accessory with three color options: black, white, and blue. That's more options than, say, Apple's AirPods, which is great. Especially for folks who like Samsung's truly wireless headphones and were looking to buy a new pair.

Now, just over four weeks later, Samsung has introduced two new colors.

To be fair, the company announced the bright red Galaxy Buds+ last month, not too long after the truly wireless headphones were first introduced. But now they're available in the United States, too, broadening availability. And we already know that yet another color option is in the works, too: pink.

Which means that, in less than a month, Samsung has announced a new product with three colors at launch, and then added two colors to help boost attention and perhaps win over a few more customers at the same time. I know that, as a consumer, the color of the product I'm getting matters because I'm not typically one to cover it with a case (if that's even a possibility).

So when Samsung introduces three color options at launch, and then adds new color options at a later date, it's pretty annoying. And the company is known to do this pretty often. We've seen its flagship phones reintroduced with new, eye-catching colors months after an initial launch, all in an effort to spur sales. And I'm sure it works because companies keep doing it, but that doesn't make it any better.

This is a practice that I just don't agree with at all. I know Apple, Samsung, HTC, and others have their reasons for doing this. Maybe some colors aren't ready at launch, even if they've been in the works since day one. And it doesn't happen every time, but sometimes there are colors that I would actually want to pick up. Except I can't because I already bought the phone or accessory in question and I'm not going to try and sell the first one just to get a new color.

This all got me wondering: how long do you wait before you buy a new product? Whether it's a phone or accessory or whatever else it might be, do you wait until well after its initial launch just in case? I'm starting to wonder if it's worth it. Of course, with some companies like Apple waiting means running the risk of not being able to get the thing you want at all, so that might trump any desire to wait for a color or whatever else.

But, I want to hear from you. How long do you wait after a new product has launched before you pull the trigger on a purchase? Do you pre-order, wait for launch day, or wait until well after its consumer debut? Let me know!

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