Apple’s first set of wireless headphones — the AirPods Max — launched to great fanfare in 2020. At $549, the aluminum-clad cans raised eyebrows due to their price and design. But despite their cost and some odd design decisions (like the lack of an off switch), reviewers were nearly unanimous with their praise, especially for the Max’s standout features: active noise cancellation (ANC) and transparency mode. Is there room for improvement? Absolutely.
Originally, we had hoped to see the AirPods Max 2 debut in the fall of 2023. When that didn’t happen, we shifted our focus to Apple’s iPhone 16 launch on September 9, 2024. That event brought big updates for the AirPods range: new AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with ANC, and plans to give the AirPods Pro 2 new hearing health and hearing aid capabilities. However, the AirPods Max portion of the announcement proved to be a disappointment: Other than a new USB-C charging port and some new colors, Apple’s flagship headphones remain unchanged. Call them AirPods Max 1.5, if you must.
Still, there’s every reason to believe that this “refresh” (because what else do you call such a minor update?) is simply a temporary step and that a proper next-gen model will be headed our way in the not-so-distant-future.
Here’s what we think could be on the horizon when Apple finally releases its second-gen AirPods Max.
A special case
There’s a lot to like when it comes to the AirPods Max, but most folks seem to agree: the included travel case is terrible. Maybe it’s that it barely protects the earcups and offers zero coverage for that fancy (and comfy) headband. Or maybe it’s that you can’t power down the headphones unless you put them in the case. The bottom line is that Apple’s case — which has earned itself the rather unflattering nickname “the bra” due to its double-cup shape — needs a serious rethink.
Every high-end set of wireless cans we can think of, from the Bowers & Wilkins Px7 S2 to the Sony WH-1000XM5, come with a fully protective, contoured, and zippered travel case. And we don’t see why the AirPods Max should be the exception. This worst-case scenario should be an easy win for Apple on the AirPods Max 2.
Not to put too blunt a point on it, but Apple needs to fix that case. Full stop.
Lose a little weight
Is it possible for a set of headphones to be both incredibly heavy and surprisingly comfortable? Until the AirPods Max came along, we’d have said no. Still, there’s no denying that despite weighing in at 13.6 ounces (far more massive than the WH-1000XM5’s 8.8 ounces), Apple’s cans are really comfy. Not so comfy, however, that you can wear them for hours without fatigue. After a while, that weight — again, they’re nearly a full pound — does start to drag you down.
It will be a challenge to shave ounces if Apple sticks with its aluminum and steel materials, but it needs to try. What’s the point of having class-leading active noise cancellation if you just want to rip the headphones off your head two hours into your flight? Apple is a master of materials and design, so we have faith that the AirPods Max 2 can tilt the scales at 10 ounces or less without sacrificing an ounce of luxe.
Fix that sound
Here’s the thing about the AirPods Max. They sound great. But they’re being held back by a baffling decision on Apple’s part.
If you’re a fan of hi-res audio — the kind of sound quality that we think of as better than CD quality — Apple has plenty of lossless, hi-res tracks on Apple Music in up to 24-bit/192kHz. There’s no way to transmit this full, lossless quality to a set of wireless headphones using existing Bluetooth codecs, so flagship wireless headphones typically offer analog and/or digital wired audio connections.
Beats (which Apple owns) did this with its Studio Pro headphones. They ship with a dual-USB-C cable for lossless, hi-res digital audio, and a dual-3.5mm cable for piping in analog sound from a compatible phone or a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) directly into your cans.
The updated AirPods Max have a USB-C connection, but it’s just for charging. It doesn’t support digital audio. The original AirPods Max had an analog cable option ( for a whopping $35), but there’s currently no equivalent cable for the USB-C version of the headphones.
So we’re hoping that — at the very least — Apple makes the USB-C connection compatible with unprocessed digital audio from a phone or computer to the AirPods Max 2. In an ideal world, a similarly high-quality path would exist for analog signals, too.
Set a new wireless audio standard
A better cable solution would go a long way toward giving the AirPods Max 2 the kind of sound quality its predecessor lacks — but why stop there? As a set of wireless headphones, the AirPods Max 2 shouldn’t be tethered if it can be avoided, and Apple is perfectly positioned to revolutionize how wireless audio works.
Bluetooth is limited as far as audio quality goes. Even the latest advances from Qualcomm, which provide lossless CD quality via Snapdragon Sound, can’t rise to the level of lossless hi-res audio. It simply doesn’t have enough bandwidth.
However, ultra-wideband (UWB) does have enough bandwidth — tons of it, in fact — and it’s designed to deliver that bandwidth over very short distances, with very low latency, and very low power consumption. Best of all, Apple already has plenty of experience with UWB — every iPhone since the iPhone 11 has possessed a UWB radio, and Apple’s UWB-based U1 chips now reside in products like the AirTag and the charging case for the second-gen AirPods Pro.
Granted, thus far Apple has only been using UWB for its spatially sensitive locating capabilities, but we know that the technology can do far more.
If Apple includes its latest H2 chip in the next AirPods Max (which seems like a no-brainer), it could offer the same lossless hi-res connection that the Apple Vision Pro can create with the AirPods Pro 2 with USB-C.
Let’s hope that Apple makes the AirPods Max 2 the first wireless headphones that eliminate the compromises in sound quality inherent in Bluetooth devices.
MagSafe to the max?
Speaking of charging, it’s possible that Apple might find a way to add its MagSafe wireless charging tech to the AirPods Max 2. Apple was able to do so on the iPhone, as well as the charging cases for the third-gen AirPods, fourth-gen AirPods, and second-gen AirPods Pro, but the AirPods Max 2 could pose a more difficult challenge. MagSafe needs a metal ring to perform the “mag” part of its duties, but the actual wireless charging doesn’t work well through metals like aluminum. And since the current AirPods Max are almost entirely aluminum on any surface that would be big enough for a MagSafe connection, it’s hard to see how that would work.
Still, Apple has been known to place plastic inserts within its aluminum cases when it needs to. We could see Apple integrating a discreet, circular plastic insert on one of the earcups of the AirPods Max 2 — possibly with an Apple logo — to enable this feature.
More colors, longer battery life
Other than the new USB-C connection, the other thing Apple updated on the AirPods Max in 2024 was its color options. They’re now available in five colors: Midnight, Blue, Purple, Orange, and Starlight, so we can check this box at least for now.
When it comes to battery life and wireless products, more is always better. That’s a truism that Apple has had a habit of ignoring over the years, and it’s fair to say that even though the AirPods Max’s 20-hour battery life isn’t the worst in the wireless headphone world, it’s very near the bottom. It was therefore a bit shocking that Apple didn’t improve this number at all on the USB-C variant.
Do you absolutely need more than 20 hours? Maybe not on a day-to-day basis, but if you’re a frequent traveler, you may not find yourself near a power outlet when you need one. Having a little extra wiggle room would be really helpful, so here’s hoping the AirPods Max 2 get a boost in the power department. Though more battery capacity usually means increased weight, which is something we definitely don’t want to see more of on the AirPods Max.
AirPods Max 2 pricing, availability
There are never any guarantees in this business, but Apple’s decision to update the AirPods Max with USB-C suggests that it still considers the headphones to be an important product — alleviating some speculation that the company had lost interest since their 2020 launch.
As to when a true second-gen model may appear, that’s anyone’s guess. But if history is any guide, it’s likely that Apple will announce it on the same schedule as the original and the latest update: in the fall. Hopefully, that means the fall of 2025, but again, we’ve had our timing expectations blown up too many times to hang our hats on that prediction.
Apple tends to keep pricing static on its generational improvements as long as it isn’t introducing a major change, so we expect that it will keep the AirPods Max 2 at the current price of $549. When the AirPods Max initially debuted, that number was shockingly expensive. But since then, we’ve seen several new wireless headphones eclipse that price, including the $699 Bowers & Wilkins Px8, $599 Master & Dynamic MW75, $999 Mark Levinson No. 5909, $800 Focal Bathys, and the shockingly pricey $1,500 Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H100. These models not only make the AirPods Max seem like less of an outlier, but they also reduced the pressure on Apple to sell the AirPods Max 2 for any less.
So there you have it. Our crystal ball set of hopes and dreams for the AirPods Max 2, a set of headphones that we believe Apple will announce, even if we can’t say exactly when. As soon as we get something more concrete to go on, we’ll be back with an update.
