AirPods Max Announced Four Years Ago Today

[MacRumors]

Apple's AirPods Max were announced four years ago today, marking the company's first push into the high-end over-ear headphones market under its own brand name.

Rumors about Apple's work on a pair of high-end headphones, at the time believed to be called the "AirPods Studio," heated up throughout 2020. They were announced abruptly via a somewhat unexpected press release on December 8, 2020 and went on sale the same day. Orders started arriving to customers one week later on Tuesday, December 15.

The AirPods Max offer many popular AirPods features such as the H1 chip, easy pairing, Active Noise Cancellation, Transparency mode, automatic switching, and Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking, but in a premium over-ear design for the first time. They also offer a headband made of a flexible mesh canopy, replaceable magnetic earcups, a Digital Crown for physical volume controls, a button for switching between ANC and Transparency, and a Smart Case for storage and to put the headphones into a low power state.

Demand for the AirPods Max was high immediately after launch, with shipping estimates that stretched out several months. Initial reviews of AirPods Max were favorable, applauding the headphones for being "more than enough to compete with other high-end headphones." While the recommended retail price remains at $549, the AirPods Max are often available with discounts of over $100.

The AirPods Max have also been subject to criticism since their launch, including for their price relative to rival sets of high-end over-ear headphones, the design of the Smart Case, condensation inside the earcups, poor battery life (something that was later fixed via a software update), and ANC strength seemingly being reduced over time.

Earlier this year, Apple refreshed the AirPods Max's selection of color options and swapped the Lightning port for USB-C, but there were no other changes. Since the changes were so minor, Apple does not seem to consider the "new" model a second-generation. There are currently no rumors about a true, second-generation AirPods Max model, so the current version is likely to stick around for a while longer despite its age.

Article Link: AirPods Max Announced Four Years Ago Today

 

[DMG35]

Fantastic headphones that are long overdue for an update.

 

[infinitejest]

Even though they should have updated the chip, they are still amazing and my favorite headphones.

 

[kugino]

i sold my original pair last year in anticipation of the updated version...a year later they updated it...with barely an update. so still max-less...hopefully v3 will have a more substantial update, which might be 3 years from now.

 

[Rayansb]

see you in another four. Apparently this product is the lowest of priorities for Apple.

 

[Seanm87]

Got mine on release day, still going strong.

 

[DunedinD]

If they’re good enough for purpose, really no need to update them very frequently. Look at the world around us. This rampant need to be fed updated personal technology is doing only a small number of humans a favour. I kinda wish Apple and other tech companies would adopt a similarly sedate mentality to the pace of product releases. Instead, we got three generations of Apple silicon in under two years.

 

[whateverest]

Its limitation to max. 256kbit/s AAC is just r.i.d.i.c.u.l.o.u.s.

 

[tonmischa]

Feature Requests for 2nd Gen:
- Some kind of sound customization. (They have too much bass in the 230 Hz range.)
(No, i do not want to use the EQ of the playback program. This should be achieveable on a playback-device level.)
- Abitility to hear my "own voice" during phone calls without having to switch to Transparency Mode.
- Adaptive Transparency Mode (same as Airpods Pro 2)
- Better wind reduction for use outside.

 

[gusping]

And still get bested by Sony and Bose in every way (except build quality). I am amazed people still buy these for such a premium over the better offerings. Really shows the power of the Apple brand (and sheepiness).

 

[dampfnudel]

Maybe Apple will surprise us once again with an abrupt announcement of the second generation AirPods Max with the H2 or H3 chip, a minor redesign, lighter weight and a real case in 2025.

 

[Nozuka]

i guess they don't want my money.

 

[vjl323]

Feature Requests for 2nd Gen:

- Better wind reduction for use outside.

I'm not a wireless headphone person, so please, please forgive this possibly embarrassing question - but - and no judgement here at all, just curious- are these headphones common to wear outside? When I am in the "music zone", I wear similarly sized headphones, but wired and in my home. I would assume, something of this size, typically the use case is indoors, but from your feature request, I guess it is popular to wear them outside too? Is this common?

Where I live, it is super rare to see someone even wearing air pods [typically I see them on runners at the park, but it's very rare]. My town is not technically savvy nor demographically speaking, do most have the money for Apple products, so that's why I ask.

 

[t0rqx]

Rumours have it this will be equipped with Apples 5G modem for true wireless music experience.

 

[frou]

Decent product but you're a mug if you ever pay anywhere near full price for them.

 

[ApplesAreSweet&Sour]

i guess they don't want my money.

That’s also my take:

Why not do what they did to AirPods Pro by essentially not touching the exterior design and components but just update the internals and call it a day?

The USB-C “refresh” was clearly just so they don’t get fined in the EU in 2025.

But why they couldn’t have a Gen. 2 update ready after 4 years is beyond me.

The wireless radios and the H2 chip are very inexpensive and “low-end” compared to Apple’s M4 and A18 chips.

I have to assume sales figures are still just too good to do anything more with AirPods Max? Or too low?

Seeing how even the standard AirPods are Gen. 4 and have the H2 chip, it’s kinda absurd that anyone would consider getting four-year-old AirPods Max now.

Odd how Apple will sleep on hit products that buyers have been lining up to spend $549 on if they just do a genuine refresh.

I can’t figure out why investors accept Apple snoozing on this opportunity.

Does Gurman have an explanation for why Apple does this?

 

[DELLsFan]

Decent product but you're a mug if you ever pay anywhere near full price for them.

Apple's AirPod Max is the Studio Display of the wireless headphone market. Quite good, but way too expensive.

 

[User 6502]

Stupidly expensive and inferior to many cheaper alternatives. Apple should just discontinue them.

 

[Tripps9000]

I would not buy these at all I did buy the Beats Studio pro which has a lot of the same features but is cheaper and I could not be any happier with my purchase 👍🏻

 

[tonmischa]

I'm not a wireless headphone person, so please, please forgive this possibly embarrassing question - but - and no judgement here at all, just curious- are these headphones common to wear outside? When I am in the "music zone", I wear similarly sized headphones, but wired and in my home. I would assume, something of this size, typically the use case is indoors, but from your feature request, I guess it is popular to wear them outside too? Is this common?

Living in Berlin, Germany.
There are a lot of car owners here, but not as many as in smaller cities or rural areas.
So a lot of people rely on buses, trains, bikes, scooters, or just walking.
The city is noisy. So the noise cancellation is imho a big appeal for many.

When traveling to or from work (its a 1 hour commute by train) I usually see at least a third of the (younger) people wearing some kind of headphones. Not only on the train, but also on the platform or in the street. AirPods Max are not the most popular choice, but I see them used outside every day.

 

[ISignedUpToAskThis]

The APMs not being given a proper second generation update/redesign after so long, and the Magic Mouse still having the charging port on the underside are the two things I hate about Apple.

 

[xiJulian_]

If there’s an Apple product that sums up Tim’s legacy it’s the AirPods Max

 

[DrJR]

I’ve been waiting two years for an update to buy and have moved on.

 

[AlexESP]

And still get bested by Sony and Bose in every way (except build quality). I am amazed people still buy these for such a premium over the better offerings. Really shows the power of the Apple brand (and sheepiness).

At some point you have to consider it has nothing to do with "sheepiness", but it's just that many people prefer APM over what you consider better offerings. Check some reviews in Amazon, APM is one of the highest-valued headphones, no one was fooled.

 

[Retskrad]

No economically savvy person would buy these things—they are objectively not worth their asking price. This was the sentiment four years ago. Today, buying them is downright irrational. People like to argue that price and value are relative, but most would agree that the Mac Pro with Apple silicon is a bad value. The same goes for the Studio Display and Vision Pro. Sometimes a product can’t be defended.