Apple announced a new set of AirPods Max during its event last week, featuring USB-C and new colors. While the switch to USB-C is welcome, Apple hasn't changed anything else about them. And that feels weird, right? What's the point?
Apple's high-end luxury headphones were impressive when they launched in 2020. They had all the features of the AirPods Pro and cleverly used the Apple Watch's digital crown for volume control. They also sounded fantastic – and in fact, they still do! But the rest of the market hasn't sat idle; alternatives from Sony, Bose and, more recently, Sonos all offer comparable features and sound – most notably, they compete with the AirPods Max when it comes to noise cancellation (Bose does this best) and transparency modes (AirPods Max still dominate, but the Sonos Ace are close).
Despite being some of the most expensive headphones you can buy without drifting into ultra-high-end audiophile territory, the AirPods Max seem to have caught on in recent years. Apple doesn't disclose the headphones' numbers when it reports its earnings, but they're all over New York City, and I even see them on many heads in my hometown of Milwaukee. You see them in airports and airplanes, in city traffic, or just walking around the block. There was once a whole trend of people sharing AirPods Max accessories on TikTok. I like the crocheted ones:
There's also a very visible market for “dupes,” or counterfeits. They're heavily featured on Reptronics, a 115,000-member subreddit where people share deals on cheaper fake versions of popular products. (There are also plenty of videos about dupes on TikTok.)
27 minutes into the sixth episode of the spectacular Netflix drama The accidenta teenager is wearing knockoff AirPods Max that I'm sure are the exact pair I bought a few years ago. I gave mine to my kid who quickly broke them.
So why hasn't Apple updated the AirPods Max? Is it because the company is focused on Beats and doesn't have time for the AirPods Max? Did it simply need to get something out there so the EU wouldn't criticize it for not switching to USB-C before the region's December deadline? Does Apple think it did a perfect job from the start with its first over-ear headphones, even with its several-year-old H1 chip?
They're so, so expensive, but they're also an excellent pair of headphones that I love listening to music on. The ecosystem benefits, like being able to pair them with my Apple TV to watch a movie in the evening or quickly switch them from my computer to my phone and iPad, are great. And they still feel as solid as ever, even now, two years after I bought them.
But in their original version, they're extremely Apple-ish – you need a special cable that only Apple sells to listen wired because they don't have a 3.5mm audio jack. They don't have a power button, so you have to trust that they'll go into sleep mode and be ready to go the next time you turn them on. (This was very inconsistent for me.)
Apple has not changed any of that, and now it's hard to feel like these are the most premium headphones in Apple's lineup, thanks to the glaring absence of the AirPods Pro H2 chip that was introduced two years ago. Without it, they don't get features like Adaptive Audio or Conversational Awareness – or those coming later on the AirPods Pro, like the ability to double as a hearing aid.
I wouldn't upgrade for these features, and I don't think anyone else should either. But the fact that the AirPods Pro are “more advanced” surely takes away the AirPods Max's premium sheen, right? And that the market has more or less caught up doesn't help either. All of this really makes their $549 price tag in 2024 a bitter pill to swallow.