Lower-Cost AirPods and New AirPods Max Said to Launch Later This Year

[JordanCautious]

FINALLY A NEW AIRPODS MAX. I’ve been wanting to buy one since forever but wanted to wait for a new one. This made my week

 

[Arctic Moose]

No excuses as to how something can go this long without being updated and not inherit the features the AirPods Pro 2nd gen have like spacial audio, adaptive transparancy, etc

Yeah, I have my credit card ready, but if they don’t at least match the features of AirPods Pro I don’t think I’ll succumb.

 

[seek3r]

So, if all we're getting out of a new AirPods Max is the USB-C port (sigh)... can we just have them now? What exactly is taking them till Q4?

I hope there’s more to it than that, that rumor smells fishy

it seems super odd to me that they’d update their most expensive headphones and leave out the updates the APP2s will have had for a year at that point, I have a hard time believing that

 

[MNWildFan]

Yeah, I have my credit card ready, but if they don’t at least match the features of AirPods Pro I don’t think I’ll succumb.

Yup, same here; as much as I want to get that much closer to getting Lightning out of my life, having an new version of the AirPods Max that only has USB-C as its new feature will not be nearly enough for me to upgrade

The battery on mine is still surprisingly pretty decent for the most part too (have had mine since mid-late 2021)

 

[Radin.Y]

I hate that stupid bra less than I thought I would, but I also don't understand why they insisted on it. I bought them because I loved how convenient using my gen 2 airpods is. But I really like over-ear cans and needed something with noise cancellation. But I can't just have it sitting on my desk, it has to be in that case. lol.

That said, the case. I don't really care about headphone cases because the headphones live on my desk. Quite the opposite: I don't want to have to use a case. I get that having a power button isn't very Apple, but this seems to have been the perfect situation to have a power button. Or at least make them go to sleep when you turn the earcaps sideways! although I don't care much for that one...

Or if they wanted to sell overpriced crap, they could've made them detect when they were placed laying down on their side and/or when someone sets them on a special "Made for Airpods Max" stand. (oo plus points if the stand charged the airpods wirelessly!)

While we're at it: They can't be serious about "being eco friendly" with that headband. The design doesn't allow you to easily swap the mesh out. Why?! Who thought this was a good idea?!

There is nothing eco friendly about AirPods. You would have to melt the AirPods to access the batteries inside, which at that point is too late.
The short battery life of AirPods (probably not Max, but the small ones) and rapid battery decay, and impossibly of repair far outweigh the conscience they offer. (To me). It makes their “eco friendly” pledges meaningless!
I have had a pair of headphones for 8 years now, and they still work perfectly!!
The outer body is made of metal, and believe it or not, once saved my life!

 

[guyguy17]

I hope Apple will improve Find My to help locate missing earbuds. Each earbud should have the technology to locate them even if the earbuds are out of the case. This would be very helpful when you have teens.

 

[Arctic Moose]

AirPods Max that only has USB-C as its new feature will not be nearly enough for me to upgrade

I don’t own the current version. I never got around to trying a pair when they were first released, and I wasn’t traveling anyhow due to covid, and by the time I would have had use for them it felt like an upgrade would be right around the corner. Now I wish I had just ordered at launch, but after the 2nd gen AirPods Pro were released I really didn’t want to invest without an update.

 

[MNWildFan]

I don’t own the current version. I never got around to trying a pair when they were first released, and I wasn’t traveling anyhow due to covid, and by the time I would have had use for them it felt like an upgrade would be right around the corner. Now I wish I had just ordered at launch, but after the 2nd gen AirPods Pro were released I really didn’t want to invest without an update.

APM are quite nice; I use them mainly when traveling (their noise cancelling is quite superb on flights) while my APPs I use pretty much for everything else like work and working out and all

 

[devinher]

I have such a love/hate relationship with my AirPods Max. I refuse to charge my AirPods Max in the stupid bra (which I have also misplaced and I categorically refuse to buy a replacement from Apple…it is somewhere) so the battery life (which was never good at launch and is even worse years later, and this pair was replaced under warranty in December 2022 right before the AppleCare+ expired) is not great and I get to have the fun of manually re-pairing them every few days. I also don’t love the comfort and the noise cancellation isn’t as good as my Sony's. The sound quality is quite good, especially for spatial audio, but I have better headphones for serious listening. All things considered, these are absolutely the worst $550 headphones I own, and I own a lot of headphones in this price range.

That said, I’m counting down the days for the next generation, because even if the only change is a USB-C port, these are an instant-buy. The auto-pairing is just too good across devices and as much as it pains me, if my current pair died tomorrow, I’d be ordering a replacement immediately.

I do hope that whatever Sonos comes out with and whatever Sony's successor headphones are will encourage Apple to do a little more than just adding a USB-C port, but I doubt it. In any event, I look at my pink AirPods Max with disdain and look forward to replacing them with a pair I hate almost as much.

So, I'm missing why you like them so much. Even the auto-pairing you say you like works so poory you have to manually re-pair constantly. What's the appeal?

I'd been hoping they'd release a 2nd gen that is a little sleeker, etc, but finally gave up and got the Bose QC Ultras. Really enjoying them.

 

[filmgirl]

That said, the case. I don't really care about headphone cases because the headphones live on my desk. Quite the opposite: I don't want to have to use a case. I get that having a power button isn't very Apple, but this seems to have been the perfect situation to have a power button.

Exactly. Give me a power button on my headphones and my overpriced Studio Display. Don’t make me use a terrible case to save power or a smart plug to power cycle my monitor.

If my AirPods Pro 2s had all day battery life, I’d use them as my all-day buds.

So, I'm missing why you like them so much. Even the auto-pairing you say you like works so poory you have to manually re-pair constantly. What's the appeal?

I'd been hoping they'd release a 2nd gen that is a little sleeker, etc, but finally gave up and got the Bose QC Ultras. Really enjoying them.

Because as annoying as the re-pair issue is, it’s usually pretty fast to fix (press the crown and top button until it cycles through and I then re-connect in Bluetooth, it rarely needs a full reset) and then I can switch across devices for at least a few days. And the thing is, on an average workday, I’m sometimes using an iPhone, an iPad Pro, two MacBook Pros and occasionally an iMac all at the same time (I usually have dedicated headphones for the iMac). Not having to worry about what Bluetooth setting is set and having to manually pair headphones every time I touch or interact with another device is really, really useful. Again, I have better over ear headphones and I have headphones I prefer for flying. But the device switching stuff and the good-enough at everything, even if not the best at most, aspect of these makes them pretty solid.

If the battery life was better on AirPods Pro 2s — like if I could do 6 hours of back to back meetings without having to take 20
minutes to charge — I would use those as my office headphones. But they don’t. I’ve considered buying a second pair or AirPods Pro 2s (technically it would be my 4th because I lost my original 2022 pair and then gifted the replacements I bought 35 days before the USB-C ones came out to a friend so I could just go USB-C as much as possible), but I spent $550 on these things in 2020 so I want to use them as long as possible (and as I said, I bought two pairs of APP2s in 35 days last fall…no need to reward my own bad behavior).

 

[redcarlsen]

Someone doesn't remember all the iMac colors, all the iBook colors, all the different iPod models, all the iPod Mini colors, all the iPod Nano colors which were advertised as nanochromatic, all the iPod Shuffle colors, two sizes of iBooks, two colors of plastic MacBooks, three sizes of PowerBooks, older iPhones sold next to newer ones, etc. Yep, nothing but simplicity under Steve Jobs.

Also, the real value that the Apple car gave was a portfolio of patents and patented AI technologies.

Colors are not the same as different models.
Consumers don’t have to fret about the spec difference of blue vs yellow, or listen to long spiel by a salesperson of why the purple should be purchased over the green one.

 

[darngooddesign]

Colors are not the same as different models.
Consumers don’t have to fret about the spec difference of blue vs yellow, or listen to long spiel by a salesperson of why the purple should be purchased over the green one.

I was responding to someone who remembered with rose-gold tinted glasses how Steve Jobs simplified everything, when the truth was that simplification only existed at the beginning of his return and in less than ten years Steve Jobs alllowed for a huge diverstity of models, colors, sizes, and spec levels.

Good, better, best has always been a stable of Apple, both under Tim Cook and Steve Jobs.

 

[Tyler O'Bannon]

Will Apple ever give us BACK our 3.5mm headphone jacks?

I really dislike these earbuds. They fall out, often they fail within days of purchasing them, the sound quality is all over the place, etc.

Who has determined that they fail within days of purchasing them? I have never had one pair go out, even through kids and bags and everything. Some are a decade+ old now.

3.5mm is not coming back. The water and dust proofing are held back by it. Regardless of preference (i personally wouldn’t mind having it at all), it’s not going to come back because of design.

 

[Surf Monkey]

I was responding to someone who remembered with rose-gold tinted glasses how Steve Jobs simplified everything, when the truth was that simplification only existed at the beginning of his return and in less than ten years Steve Jobs alllowed for a huge diverstity of models, colors, sizes, and spec levels.

Good, better, best has always been a stable of Apple, both under Tim Cook and Steve Jobs.

Uh… “less than ten years”? He died barely more than a decade after returning to Apple.

And no, “good, better, best” has not been part of Cook’s strategy.

 

[darngooddesign]

Uh… “less than ten years”? He died barely more than a decade after returning to Apple.

And no, “good, better, best” has not been part of Cook’s strategy.

He passed away around fourteen years after he returned, and in half that time he had a wide variety of models, colors, and sizes. This nostalgic 'Steve Jobs only had a simple lineup' is not supported by facts.

 

[Surf Monkey]

He passed away around fourteen years after he returned, and in half that time he had a wide variety of models, colors, and sizes. This nostalgic 'Steve Jobs only had a simple lineup' is not supported by facts.

The explosion of Tim Cook driven Plus Pro Studio Mini Max Air SE and Ultra “categories” beg to differ.

 

[Jetson]

I know people whose ears they won't stay in, that's fair, and maybe you're one of them. But the rest of this is just stuff you made up. Pretty sure they don't "often" fail within days of purchse. And I can guarantee you the sound quality is not "all over the place."

I own a pair of Toshiba earbuds which I received as a gift 😊

They were nice, sounded great and I was pleased. Then within one week of use the right bud would make a crackling sound every so often. Then they wouldn't shut off at night in their charging case - I could hear them repeat the phrase "power off" until I got up and fiddled with them. Over the next few days they deteriorated to the point that the left and right buds wouldn't pair anymore - I could only hear one channel/bud at a time!

These started out strong but died young.

Annoyingly, the buds began to fall out as if the silicon earpiece no longer fit. The bass would only kick in when the buds were making good "bone contact", if you know what I mean.

I started shopping for a replacement. The Apple AirPods line up seemed to be a bit confusing at first and relatively expensive. I looked at JBL, Samsung, etc. I read the Amazon and Best Buy customer reviews. Most people liked earbuds, enjoying them for years. There were a lot of people who reported failure soon after launch. Even those who liked their choices offered caveats.

Then I noticed that Amazon had the Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation) on sale. Customers seem to like their Apple AirPods, and the Pro has a lot of great features. So I pulled the handle!

Since the foreseeable generations of portable devices won't be equipped with a 3.5 mm jack, and I'm also in the market for a new iPad, I'm looking forward to enjoying these AirPods when they arrive.

 

[Surf Monkey]

I own a pair of Toshiba earbuds which I received as a gift 😊

They were nice, sounded great and I was pleased. Then within one week of use the right bud would make a crackling sound every so often. Then they wouldn't shut off at night in their charging case - I could hear them repeat the phrase "power off" until I got up and fiddled with them. Over the next few days they deteriorated to the point that the left and right buds wouldn't pair anymore - I could only hear one channel/bud at a time!

These started out strong but died young.

Annoyingly, the buds began to fall out as if the silicon earpiece no longer fit. The bass would only kick in when the buds were making good "bone contact", if you know what I mean.

I started shopping for a replacement. The Apple AirPods line up seemed to be a bit confusing at first and relatively expensive. I looked at JBL, Samsung, etc. I read the Amazon and Best Buy customer reviews. Most people liked earbuds, enjoying them for years. There were a lot of people who reported failure soon after launch. Even those who liked their choices offered caveats.

Then I noticed that Amazon had the Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation) on sale. Customers seem to like their Apple AirPods, and the Pro has a lot of great features. So I pulled the handle!

Since the foreseeable generations of portable devices won't be equipped with a 3.5 mm jack, and I'm also in the market for a new iPad, I'm looking forward to enjoying these AirPods when they arrive.

If you want the superior sound of wired phones there are a bunch of great dongles out there to try. Bluetooth dongles for wired headphones are very common and many sound much better than Apple’s 3.5mm dongle. The iFi Go Blu for example. With it (or similar) you can run 3.5 single ended or 4.4 balanced. You can connect via Bluetooth or by a USB cable if you want a completely wired signal path. You can even spend a few dollars more and get an AptX HD transmitter for your iPhone or iPad and get even better wireless resolution and reception. Throw in some decent IEMs or buds and you have a hifi setup that puts Apple’s AirPods Pro to shame for about the same cost.

 

[Jetson]

If you want the superior sound of wired phones there are a bunch of great dongles out there to try. Bluetooth dongles for wired headphones are very common and many sound much better than Apple’s 3.5mm dongle. The iFi Go Blu for example. With it (or similar) you can run 3.5 single ended or 4.4 balanced. You can connect via Bluetooth or by a USB cable if you want a completely wired signal path. You can even spend a few dollars more and get an AptX HD transmitter for your iPhone or iPad and get even better wireless resolution and reception. Throw in some decent IEMs or buds and you have a hifi setup that puts Apple’s AirPods Pro to shame for about the same cost.

Wow! Thanks for the great suggestions. I'll look into this 🙂

 

[Arctic Moose]

I'm looking forward to enjoying these AirPods when they arrive.

So you have never actually owned or used AirPods yourself, and your trashing of them was based on your experience with Toshiba and some online reviews?

 

[Jetson]

So you have never actually owned or used AirPods yourself, and your trashing of them was based on your experience with Toshiba and some online reviews?

I didn't trash anything. I gave my opinion on earbuds (generic term) but never criticized AirPods.

I've been falsely accused here of lying ("stuff you made up") and trashing AirPods. What the heck?

Flame off, fanboys!

 

[Arctic Moose]

What the heck?

You wrote "I really dislike these earbuds", referencing Apple in the previous sentence, in a thread specifically about AirPods. 🤷‍♂️

 

[Papa C]

Apple plans to release lower-cost AirPods later this year, according to Jeff Pu, an analyst who covers companies within Apple's supply chain.

In a research note today with investment firm Haitong International Securities, Pu said a Foxconn subsidiary will be one of the suppliers of the lower-cost AirPods. Pu said Foxconn will ramp up AirPods assembly at a factory in India in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman previously said Apple plans to release two fourth-generation AirPods models in September or October, including entry-level and mid-tier models. He said both models will feature a new design with better fit, improved sound quality, and an updated charging case with a USB-C port, while the mid-tier model will also feature active noise cancellation and a speaker for Find My location tracking. It is unclear if the lower-priced AirPods and the entry-level fourth-generation AirPods are the same product, but it seems plausible.

Pu also expects updated AirPods Max to be released in the fourth quarter of 2024. Gurman previously said a USB-C charging port will be the only new feature for the over-ear headphones, and new color options are also a possibility.

Article Link: Lower-Cost AirPods and New AirPods Max Said to Launch Later This Year

Love my AirPods Max so far. Bought them 3 years ago, and they are also the only ones I have ever seen that have lasted more than a year without something breaking. The longevity alone is a massive benefit. The headband is worn down, but at least it isn’t snapped and taped back together like every other pair of headphones after a year. Sound quality is still great and much more balanced than the bass-heavy approach of other headphones. The weight is fine, it’s mostly over the ears and my neck is strong enough anyway.

However, I absolutely can’t wait to upgrade. Apple a long time back patented a glass covering for over-ear headphones, which will dramatically improve sound isolation, and the chip difference from then to now is pretty big. Plus Apple now has a lossless audio codec and I’m sure the battery life will be better just through efficiency alone. 2nd gen Apple products are usually drastically better than 1st gen, an I can’t wait for Christmas 2024 when I go to trade mine in.

 

[uczcret]

Plus Apple now has a lossless audio codec

Apple has had a lossless audio codec since 2004.

I do expect the APM2 will be able to support lossless over USB-C now that even Beats headphones can.

 

[Jetson]

Love my AirPods Max so far. Bought them 3 years ago, and they are also the only ones I have ever seen that have lasted more than a year without something breaking. The longevity alone is a massive benefit. The headband is worn down, but at least it isn’t snapped and taped back together like every other pair of headphones after a year. Sound quality is still great and much more balanced than the bass-heavy approach of other headphones. The weight is fine, it’s mostly over the ears and my neck is strong enough anyway.

However, I absolutely can’t wait to upgrade. Apple a long time back patented a glass covering for over-ear headphones, which will dramatically improve sound isolation, and the chip difference from then to now is pretty big. Plus Apple now has a lossless audio codec and I’m sure the battery life will be better just through efficiency alone. 2nd gen Apple products are usually drastically better than 1st gen, an I can’t wait for Christmas 2024 when I go to trade mine in.

I've owned many headphones over the decades and they many aren't all that great either. Glad you like your AirPods Max, though.

My favorite is the Sennheiser HD 600 wired headphones. These are supra aural (fit around the ears) and are extremely comfortable. They also have that balanced sound. Wide and flat across the soundscape and the frequency response of 12-40,500 Hz gives them plenty of deep, articulated bass when the music calls for it.

For me, anything that makes contact with the ears by sitting on top of them or shoved inside them leads to irritation. I have some great sounding Sony cans. They make my ears really hurt after an hour or so of wearing them. I love the rich bass sound but I haven't listened to them in years. The ear pads have probably disintegrated by now. 🤣

I've replaced the headband cushion, velour ear pads and the connection cable on the Sennheiser HD 600 and it's good as new.