Apple’s 2024 launch slate has been pretty stacked across the board. From flagship iPads rocking a generation-first desktop processor ahead of Macs and diversifying the AirPods TWS lineup even further to reimagining the Mac Mini, Apple didn’t leave fans disappointed.
The only weak link, so to speak, was the top-of-the-line Max headphones. Instead of a meaningful hardware refresh for the otherwise highly anticipated successor, what fans got was a color revamp and a USB-C port. Unfortunately, it looks like a true refresh is still a bit further into the future.
In the latest edition of his PowerOn newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman notes that a third-generation AirPods Max isn’t on Apple’s immediate launch roadmap. Notably, that reluctance apparently has to do with their market reception compared to other mainstream products in the company’s lineup.
“The headphones aren’t a hot enough seller to justify pouring money into development, but they’re also not a big enough flop to kill them outright,” says the Bloomberg report.
Apple doesn’t share product-wise breakdowns of sales figures publicly, so it’s hard to gauge how the headphones fared compared to its sibling products and rivals. But it’s hard not to imagine why the over-ear headphones haven’t experienced the same kind of runaway success as the AirPods TWS earbuds.
Despite all the praise they’ve received for their stellar sound output and noise-cancellation chops, an asking price worth $549 was never going to be an easy sell.
The situation gets particularly aching when one considers the rivals from Sony and Bose, which offer standout audio experiences without the same kind of hit on the wallet as the Apple headphones.
Then there’s also the question of feature parity and ecosystem limitations, where Sony’s WH-1000XM5 races ahead of the AirPods Max despite a lower asking price.
The market uptake of the Apple headphones, at least according to analysts, hasn’t been blockbuster. TFI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo wrote in an investor note (via Apple Insider) that the AirPods Max will only clock under a million units in sales in their launch year.
Another report from DigiTimes, which cited sources in the supply chain, mentioned that the AirPods Max are deemed “too niche” to spur a sales fiesta for Apple. The 2024 update certainly doesn’t sound like a change that would impact the sales figures in any meaningful fashion, at least not without a sticker surprise for potential buyers.
Bloomberg’s report mentions that Apple intends to keep the AirPods Max in their current state for at least the “foreseeable future.” There is no word regarding a launch timeline for a successor, but given Apple’s product refresh trajectory, it won’t be surprising to see the company wait another year or two before it introduces an updated version.
Moreover, considering the price precedent Apple has already set, the company would want to match it with a fitting set of upgrades, a task that could take some time (and engineering work) to execute.