Apple will be keeping audiophiles waiting a long time for new AirPods Max, in part due to it being simultaneously too popular and not popular enough.
It has been over four years since the introduction of the AirPods Max, and Apple has still not issued a second-gen model. Aside from adding a USB-C port in September 2024, there have not been any major alterations to the headphones.
While being long overdue an upgrade, a report claims that the AirPods Max are in an odd position that stops Apple from actually updating it.
According to Mark Gurman in Bloomberg's "Power On" newsletter on Sunday, he says that the AirPods Max are too popular for Apple to stop selling the model to consumers.
However, in the same breath, Gurman adds that it isn't selling sufficient quantities for Apple to actually put money and time into making a new model. The USB-C connector change was very minor and forced by EU regulations, with no other changes made to the headwear.
Gurman muses that it makes sense for the teams who would be responsible for an AirPods Max refresh to work on other, more popular AirPods products. Work on speakers and microphones in other Apple products would also be more important to the teams than AirPods Max.
As a result of being popular enough to maintain sales but not popular enough to work on updates, a refresh will continue to be pushed down the road.
Consumers wanting Apple headphones but unwilling to wait for a new AirPods Max could look in other areas. The Apple-owned Beats has been working to refresh its product lines, including new headphones and speakers with many improvements over previous models.
