Apple ditched the optical drive from most Macs about a decade ago—far before many pundits thought the company should. You could still buy an Apple-branded USB SuperDrive for reading and burning CDs ...

Apple has always been eager to dump technologies when the company feels they have outlived their usefulness. The original iMac came without a floppy drive. The iPhone 7 came without a headphone jack.

Earlier this year, Apple added the last MacBook Pro with a CD/DVD drive to its obsolete products list, and now it looks like Apple's aging external USB SuperDrive might not be all that far behind.

Many years ago, when Apple introduced the first MacBook Air, the company also announced an accessory called the Apple USB SuperDrive – which is essentially a CD and DVD player that can be connected to ...