AirPods Max sequel not coming anytime soon, says report
After their refresh with USB-C, the AirPods Max likely won't get an update for a while
🎧 Apple likely won’t update the AirPods Max anytime soon
🤷 According to a report, Apple doesn’t have enough motivation to update them
🔌 The most recent AirPods Max upgrade included USB-C
🛍️ We’re expecting solid Black Friday deals on the headphones this year
Apple just gave its high-end AirPods Max USB-C, but it looks like that’ll be the only upgrade the headphones receive for a while. Mark Gurman at Bloomberg reports that Apple doesn’t intend to release a sequel to the $549 AirPods for some time, citing its lack of motivation and market demand for a new pair of premium cans from the iPhone maker.
In his Power On newsletter, Gurman says that Apple doesn’t have any concrete plans to update the AirPods Max. It’s been four years since the original model launched, and in that time, we’ve never seen a redesign, significant sound upgrade, battery boost, or other meaningful improvement. Sure, USB-C was finally added this year (along with a few new colors), but nothing about the rest of the design or internals was changed.
Also check out: AirPods 4 review: ANC and better sound make a huge difference
Gurman notes that the headphones aren’t exactly a smash hit for Apple, yet they’re not small enough to the point where it would stop making them. Low market demand makes it easier for Apple not to invest in research and development, hence there’s no AirPods Max 2 release date on the horizon.
That’s a shame, because the headphones clearly need some improvements. The 384.8-gram weight is significantly more than other headphones like the Sony WH-1000XM5 (250 grams) and Bose QuietComfort Ultra (254 grams), making them more uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time. You also can’t fold the AirPods Max so that they fit in your bag better, and there’s no way to manually turn them off.
Audio quality, noise cancellation, transparency, Spatial Audio, and battery life are all pretty good but have room for improvement. There are some new head gestures with the AirPods 4 that Apple could include as well. In addition, AirPods Max still use the old H1 chip, while the rest of Apple’s AirPods use the H2 which gives you better performance and efficiency.
There’s clearly a lot that Apple could do to improve its most expensive headphones, but if demand doesn’t pick up, there’s no word on when a sequel could come around.
AirPods Max Black Friday deals are already here
Until that time comes, we expect to see the AirPods Max go on sale pretty regularly. This Black Friday, the headphones are already on sale for $499 at Amazon, while the Lightning version is just $399. These types of deals will continue until Apple decides to upgrade the headphones, so maybe it’s a good thing there isn’t a new version to keep the same $549 price point around.
Max Buondonno is a writer at The Shortcut. Follow him on X @LegendaryScoop.