Official: AirPods Max launch December 15 for $549
What you need to know
- After months of rumors, AirPods Studio are actually AirPods Max. And they're coming next week priced at $549.
After months of rumors, AirPods Max are here. That's right, the AirPods Studio name isn't a thing anymore and Apple has gone with the Max branding it uses on iPhone. Naming aside, there's a lot going on here – including a price of $549.
Apple made the announcement via press release, saying that we can look forward to all the same features and benefits of other AirPods devices, but with a new over-ear design. Buyers will also get to choose from five different colors; space gray, silver, sky blue, green, and pink.
AirPods Max join AirPods and AirPods Pro in a growing family of audio products that also includes HomePod and HomePod mini. The inclusion of the H1 chip also means we'll get all the same features as Apple's smaller earbuds.
The larger since means we can look forward to 20 hours of battery life with Active Noise Cancellation and spatial audio enabled. You'll also get a fancy soft, slim Smart Case to keep your headphones in when you aren't wearing them as well.
This being Apple, these aren't any standard headphones. The company waxes lyrical about the way the earbuds are designed and attached, using a breathable mesh canopy to ensure improved acoustic performance and more.
All of this, and more, will set you back a cool $549. You can place your order today with delivery taking place on or around December 15. You'll get that soft Smart Case and a Lighting to USB-C cable in the box, too.
As an aside, AirPods Max will require iOS 14.3 in order to function, suggesting that update will be made available to the public within the next few days.
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Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.