After a full five years, Apple unexpectedly releases the AirPods Max 2

After releasing a series of new products at the beginning of the month, including the MacBook Neo and iPhone 17e, Apple suddenly announced a new product on Monday: the second-generation AirPods Max.

(Source: Apple Official Website)

Considering that the first-generation AirPods Max was released in 2020, this product line update can be described as “coming too late.” Although Apple’s over-ear headphones are widely praised for their sound quality, there have been no performance upgrades over the past five years, aside from switching to a USB-C port (driven by the EU) and a few new color options.

Well-known Apple leaker Mark Gurman once lamented last summer that the AirPods Max is in a strange position commercially: It can indeed sell, making it impossible for Apple to discontinue this product; but it’s not very popular, so it’s not worth the company investing a lot of time and money to develop a new generation.

After five years of waiting, Apple, which excels at supply chain management, has finally found a comfortable way to upgrade.

In Monday’s update, the main upgrade for AirPods Max 2 is the adoption of the H2 chip, the same as in AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, and AirPods 4, bringing improved active noise cancellation (ANC) and a range of smart features.

According to Apple, thanks to the upgraded chip and digital signal processing algorithms, the new headphones’ active noise cancellation is 1.5 times better than the previous generation.

At the same time, smart features common on AirPods Pro will also be introduced to the AirPods Max line. For example, Adaptive Audio can automatically adjust the intensity of active noise cancellation and transparency mode based on the surrounding environment, and Conversation Awareness can lower the volume and background noise when the user starts talking to someone nearby. Apple also claims that these headphones can provide “studio-quality audio recording” for podcasters, singers, and other creators to record high-quality audio content.

If users are willing, they can also respond to Siri notifications while wearing these headphones: nodding means agree, shaking your head means decline.

In regions where “Apple Smart” features are supported, the AirPods Max 2 will also offer real-time translation.

Like the previous generation, the AirPods Max 2 supports lossless audio at 24-bit, 48 kHz when connected via USB-C cable. Apple also states that the wireless audio latency has been reduced (Bluetooth upgraded from 5.0 to 5.3), helping to improve gaming experiences.

However, the new AirPods Max does not address the common user complaints of being “expensive and heavy.” The Apple official website shows that the weight of the AirPods Max 2 is exactly the same as the previous generation, both weighing 386 grams, with the same 20-hour battery life.

(Source: Apple China Official Website)

Apple China’s official website lists the price of the AirPods Max 2 as 3,999 RMB, available in Midnight, Starlight, Blue, Purple, and Orange, identical to the discontinued AirPods Max. The new headphones will be available for pre-order starting March 25 and will begin shipping in early April.

(Source: Caixin)