Next-gen AirPods Max headphones might take a while to hit the shelves

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Apple’s 2024 launch slate has been pretty stacked across the board. From flagship iPads rocking a generation-first desktop processor ahead of Macs and diversifying the AirPods TWS lineup even further to reimagining the Mac Mini, Apple didn’t leave fans disappointed.

The only weak link, so to speak, was the top-of-the-line Max headphones. Instead of a meaningful hardware refresh for the otherwise highly anticipated successor, what fans got was a color revamp and a USB-C port. Unfortunately, it looks like a true refresh is still a bit further into the future.

In the latest edition of his PowerOn newsletter, Bloombger’s Mark Gurman notes that a third-generation AirPods Max isn’t on Apple’s immediate launch roadmap. Notably, that reluctance apparently has to do with their market reception, compared to other mainstream products in the company’s lineup.

“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,” says the Bloomberg report.

A man wears Apple AirPods Max headphones on a city street.

Apple doesn’t share product-wise breakdown of sales figures publicly, so it’s hard to gauge how the headphones fared compared to its sibling products and rivals. But it’s hard not to imagine why the over-ear headphones haven’t experienced the same kind of runaway success as the AirPods TWS earbuds.

Despite all the praise they’ve received for their stellar sound output and noise cancellation chops, an asking price worth $549 was never going to be an easy sell.

The situation gets particularly aching when one considers the rivals from Sony and Bose, which offer standout audio experiences without the same kind of hit on the wallet as the Apple headphones.

Then there’s also the question of feature parity and ecosystem limitations, where Sony’s WH-1000XM5 races ahead of the AirPods Max despite a lower asking price.

The market uptake of the Apple headphones, at least according to analysts, hasn’t been blockbuster. TFI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo wrote in an investor note (via Apple Insider) that the AirPods Max will only clock under a million units in sales in their launch year.

Another report from DigiTimes, which cited sources in the supply chain, mentioned that the AirPods Max are deemed “too niche” to spur a sales fiesta for Apple. The 2024 update certainly doesn’t sound like a change that would impact the sales figures in any meaningful fashion, at least not without a sticker surprise for potential buyers.

Bloomberg’s report mentions that Apple intends to keep the AirPods Max in their current state for at least the “foreseeable future.” There is no word regarding a launch timeline for a successor, but given Apple’s product refresh trajectory, it won’t be surprising to see the company wait another year, or two, before it introduces an updated version.

Moreover, considering the price precedent Apple has already set, the company would want to match it with a fitting set of upgrades, a task that could take some time (and engineering work) to execute.

Nadeem Sarwar

Nadeem is a tech journalist who started reading about cool smartphone tech out of curiosity and soon started writing…

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The updated AirPods Max are effectively identical to the original model including the iconic aluminum-covered earcups and mesh headband, but now they can be charged via USB-C.

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Apple's annual fall event (or close enough to fall, anyway) has arrived. And with it we have the iPhone 16, of course, a new version of the AirPods Max — and new entry-level and midrange AirPods (to go along with new features for the existing AirPods Pro).

Apple has said goodbye to the original long-stem AirPods design, with the new AirPods 4 looking a lot like the third-gen AirPods. It has also created a separate version called the AirPods 4 with ANC.

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1More TWS Q10 wireless earbuds.

It won't come as a surprise to anyone that you don't need to spend Apple AirPods-equivalent money (about $130) to get a decent set of comfortable wireless earbuds. But I'll bet most folks will be stunned to learn that you can buy a set of AirPods alternatives for just $17.

And no, I'm not talking about some no-name brand on Amazon that didn't exist six months ago (and may not exist six months from now). The company in question is 1More, a brand that we are very familiar with here at Digital Trends. Over the years, it has consistently wowed us with its ability to produce great headphones and earbuds at prices that are always much lower than we expect.

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