A few of us have been ready for Apple to announce a brand new second-gen model of the AirPods Max, its high-end over-ear noise-canceling headphones that had been launched in December 2020. They had been refreshed last year with USB-C connectivity, some new colour choices and USB-C audio in April of this yr. But when a current report by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who’s normally a dependable Apple whisperer, proves correct, we cannot be seeing the AirPods Max 2 at Apple’s iPhone 17 Event, which is more likely to happen in early September based mostly on earlier iPhone occasions.
Gurman says what I’ve suspected for whereas: The AirPods Max are “too well-liked for Apple to cease promoting them, and never well-liked sufficient for the corporate to speculate a ton of money and time into creating a brand new model.” MacRumors posted an article Monday that summarizes Gurman’s feedback in his newest Power On newsletter, which is behind a paywall.
Do not miss any of our unbiased tech content material and lab-based evaluations. Add CNET as a most well-liked Google supply on Chrome.
Business analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has a fairly good observe document with Apple predictions, with a 72.5% accuracy rating over 142 rumors posts, a lighter model of the AirPods Max might solely enter mass production in 2027 and that “Apple’s audio group is extra targeted on annual AirPods updates and supporting audio parts throughout different merchandise.”
Whereas we in all probability will not see a brand new model of the AirPods Max this yr, many of us are predicting we are going to see the AirPods Pro 3 at Apple’s iPhone 17 Occasion this fall. As I discuss in my full roundup of everything we know about the AirPods Pro 3, there’s been a whole lot of chatter concerning the AirPods 3 getting Apple’s next-gen audio processor, the H3, which might assist energy new options and assist enhance not solely sound high quality however noise-canceling and voice-calling efficiency together with Apple’s Hearing Aid feature and a rumored new translation function.
The AirPods Max are solely geared up with Apple’s H1 chip, so it does not help all the features found in the AirPods Pro 2, which use Apple’s H2 chip. These options embrace Adaptive Audio, Dialog Consciousness and Apple’s Listening to Assist and Listening to Safety options. Whereas the AirPods Max stay glorious noise-canceling headphones and have been a fixture on CNET’s best noise-canceling headphones list since their launch, it is a disgrace Apple’s costliest headphones haven’t got its newest AirPods tech. However we’ll hopefully know much more about the way forward for its AirPods line in just some weeks, so keep tuned.
