AirPods Max Announced Four Years Ago Today

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.

airpods max dark blue
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.

Related Roundup: AirPods Max
Buyer's Guide: AirPods Max (Buy Now)
Related Forum: AirPods

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Top Rated Comments

gusping Avatar
12 weeks ago
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).
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DMG35 Avatar
12 weeks ago
Fantastic headphones that are long overdue for an update.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ApplesAreSweet&Sour Avatar
12 weeks ago

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?
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DunedinD Avatar
12 weeks ago
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.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rayansb Avatar
12 weeks ago
see you in another four. Apparently this product is the lowest of priorities for Apple.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tonmischa Avatar
12 weeks ago
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.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)