Some of us have been waiting for Apple to announce a new second-gen version of the AirPods Max, its high-end over-ear noise-canceling headphones that were released in December 2020. They were refreshed last year with USB-C connectivity, some new color options and USB-C audio in April of this year. But if a recent report by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who's usually a reliable Apple whisperer, proves accurate, we won't be seeing the AirPods Max 2 at Apple's iPhone 17 Event, which is likely to take place in early September based on previous iPhone events.
Read more: Everything We Expect to Be Announced at Apple's iPhone 17 September Event
Gurman says what I've suspected for while: The AirPods Max are “too popular for Apple to stop selling them, and not popular enough for the company to invest a ton of time and money into creating a new version.” MacRumors posted an article Monday that summarizes Gurman's comments in his latest Power On newsletter, which is behind a paywall.
Citing industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who has a pretty good track record with Apple predictions, with a 72.5% accuracy rating over 142 rumors posts, a lighter version of the AirPods Max may only enter mass production in 2027 and that “Apple's audio team is more focused on annual AirPods updates and supporting audio components across other products.”
While we probably won't see a new version of the AirPods Max this year, many folks are predicting we will see the AirPods Pro 3 at Apple's iPhone 17 Event this fall. As I talk about in my full roundup of everything we know about the AirPods Pro 3, there's been a lot of chatter about the AirPods 3 getting Apple's next-gen audio processor, the H3, which would help power new features and help improve not only sound quality but noise-canceling and voice-calling performance along with Apple's Hearing Aid feature and a rumored new translation feature.
Read more: Everything We Know About the AirPods Pro 3 Coming Soon
The AIrPods Max are only equipped with Apple's H1 chip, so it doesn't support all the features found in the AirPods Pro 2, which use Apple's H2 chip. These features include Adaptive Audio, Conversation Awareness and Apple's Hearing Aid and Hearing Protection features. While the AirPods Max remain excellent noise-canceling headphones and have been a fixture on CNET's best noise-canceling headphones list since their release, it's a shame Apple's most expensive headphones don't have its latest AirPods tech. But we'll hopefully know a lot more about the future of its AirPods line in just a few weeks, so stay tuned.
