According to Mark Gurman’s latest Power On newsletter, Apple has no ‘meaningful’ plans to refresh AirPods Max after the introduction of the USB-C model earlier this year. If you were waiting for a bigger refresh with a newer chip, improved noise cancellation, or anything else – you’re out of luck.
Apple introduced AirPods Max in December 2020 at the high price of $549, and left them unchanged for nearly four years. We later got a USB-C version in September 2024, with some refreshed colors, but that was it. No upgrade to the H2 chip, no adaptive audio, or anything substantial.
According to Gurman, AirPods Max at their $549 price tag aren’t quite worth Apple’s time:
The headphones aren’t a hot enough seller to justify pouring money into development, but they’re also not a big enough flop to kill them outright. If you’ve ever been to an upscale gym in Los Angeles or New York, you can see these $550 headphones have a market — even with the high price and outdated technology.
Gurman believes that Apple will keep AirPods Max around in their current form for the “foreseeable future”, so it might be a couple years before we see a truly updated model.
Obviously, it would make sense for Apple to cut the price of AirPods Max if they wanted it to sell better, but Apple doesn’t have much of an incentive to do so.
Hopefully, AirPods Max don’t wither away on Apple’s website for the next four years like the first pair did, but it’s sounding like that’ll be the case.
What do you think of AirPods Max in their current form? Let us know in the comments.
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