Launched back in 2020, the latest AirPods Max model shouldn’t even be called an upgrade.
Apart from the Color and USB-C Port, Nothing Changed with the ‘New’ AirPods Max
The newly announced AirPods Max really isn’t an upgrade at all, because if you head over to Apple’s website, the company is calling it the ‘AirPods Max’ and not the ‘AirPods Max 2.’ But, given how old the original model is, you expect Apple to upgrade it just enough to bring it on par with the rest of the lineup, but nothing like that happened today.
The only thing that has truly physically changed on the AirPods Max is the new USB-C port for charging. Nothing else changed here at all. It even has the same H1 chip from 2020. If you were hoping for better sound or even some adaptive audio features such as Conversation Awareness, none of that is here. It’s the exact same pair of headphones that is currently sitting on your desk.
If you already own the AirPods Max and always wanted a USB-C port, that $549 is not worth it, in my opinion. It’s best to just hold on to your current AirPods and hope the hardware gets another refresh soon. However, I don’t see that happening for a long time to come.
As someone who has been using the AirPods Max for a long time, I am very disappointed. These are extremely expensive headphones and it would have been great if it received an upgrade so big that it would put it ahead of the entire AirPods lineup in terms of features – noise canceling, adaptive features, computational audio etc.
Imagine spending $549 just to buy hardware from the year 2020.
