Two weeks removed from Apple’s latest product event, where we were treated to everything from the new iPhone 17e to the cheapest laptop Apple has ever made, the company surprised us with “one more thing.”
In a news post this morning, Apple quietly announced the long-awaited update to its popular AirPods Max headphones. Meet the AirPods Max 2: a subtle makeover that offers upgraded noise canceling, audio performance, and features, all in a seemingly identical frame for the same $549 price. They’ll be available for order starting March 25, with shipping starting in April.
It’s nice to (finally) see an update to Apple’s increasingly stale flagship headphones, which have remained largely unchanged since their 2020 release, outside of a few upgrades like a USB-C charging port and lossless audio support. Apple says the Max 2’s addition of the H2 chip (the same chip in the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3) provides noise canceling that’s “1.5x more effective” than before, alongside a new amplifier for “cleaner sound” with improved spatial audio support.
The H2 also provides some modern Apple features, like Voice Isolation, Live Translation, and ambient sound features like Conversation Awareness and Adaptive Audio, which adjust the audio to your voice and environment, respectively. Like the Max with USB-C, lossless audio is available on the new pair via wired connection at up to 24-bit/48-kHz with supported devices.
Still, it’s a little confusing to see Apple upgrading its premium headphones after so long without any meaningful hardware changes. The AirPods Max’s general design appears just as unwieldy as before, with the same heavy aluminum chassis, and there’s no mention of an upgrade to the rubberized “case” that wraps around the earpads with little protection for travel.
That stands in contrast to competing headphone brands like Bose and Sony, which have each sparked multiple generational revamps in their best noise-canceling headphones over the last six years, including major leaps in noise reduction and hardware upgrades to make the latest Sony WH-1000XM6 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra 2 among the most powerful and portable wireless headphones on the market. Plenty of other rival brands, from Bowers & Wilkins to JBL, have made annual or biannual updates to incorporate the latest technologies over that same span.
Given the competition and the fact that the Max 2’s biggest upgrade seems to center around the four-year-old H2 chip, this update feels a little underbaked. That’s perhaps why Apple chose to hold the news until its other, more exciting product updates earlier this month had some time to cool on the windowsill.
Apple does things its own way, and the previous AirPods Max managed to stay relevant thanks to a mix of minor upgrades and impressive debut performance, even if they no longer keep up with the best-in-class headphones. I’ll be intrigued to see what, if anything, Apple has changed to the Max 2’s design, and how much improvement they can leverage from their new chipset and amplifier to take back some ground in what has become among the most competitive spaces in audio.
