Kuo: AirPods Max 2 Not Coming Until Second Half of 2024 at the Earliest

Apple will not launch a second-generation AirPods Max until at least the second half of next year, and could possibly wait until the first half of 2025 to refresh the headphones, according to Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

airpods max spring blue
In his latest series of tweets outlining industry expectations, Kuo said he believes Apple's "next important acoustic product refresh time" will be between the second half of 2024 and the first half of 2025. Kuo lists three products due for a refresh in this window of time, including a second-generation HomePod mini, ‌AirPods Max‌ 2, and a "low-cost version" of Apple's AirPods.

As for what we can expect in AriPods Max 2, Kuo did not offer any additional details about Apple's premium over-ear noise canceling headphones, although features that would make sense for the next-generation pair include a USB-C port instead of Lightning, improved noise cancelation, longer battery life, new color options, a U1 chip for Precision Finding in the Find My app, and more. ‌AirPods Max‌ were first released in December 2020 for $549.

In a previous prediction, Kuo said that Apple is aiming for a $99 price for the more affordable standard AirPods. Currently, the $129 second-generation AirPods are the cheapest option from Apple, while the third-generation AirPods are priced at $169 with a Lightning charging case and at $179 with a MagSafe case. Analyst Jeff Pu has also predicted the arrival of lower-priced AirPods next year.

Related Roundups: AirPods 3, AirPods Max
Related Forum: AirPods

Top Rated Comments

iRun26.2 Avatar
16 months ago
At least they are still are talking about refreshing them. My first pair is the my favorite Apple product ever!
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
boss.king Avatar
16 months ago
Who’s excited to overpay for headphones again?
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mat.Rynio Avatar
16 months ago
AirPods Max don't need refresh imo but its charging case? Hell yes.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
icanhazapple Avatar
16 months ago
USB C and U1 and I'd buy a pair.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tgt Avatar
16 months ago

Yeah but the biggest issue I have with any headphones and those hideous things you stick in your ears. None of them have separate controls for volume between the left and right side. I gave up years ago when my old off brand headphones died from the 1980's which had separate volume controls for each ear.

I have a 80% hearing loss in the left ear and cannot use air pods or the headphones as it confuses me when the stereo separation happens to music. I know I missed something. I just want separate controls of the volume to listen to music. Everybody talks the accessibility but then I bought this up for the past 10 years and you can guess it is like talking me on the left side with out my hearing aid.
I'm not sure whether any will help, but Settings -> Accessibility -> Audio/Visual has Headphone Accommodations (for supported headphones), Mono Audio and Balance.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
daanodinot Avatar
16 months ago

This is very sad and depressing news for me ?

All Apple need to change on the AirPods Max is to switch the port to USB-C, and design an improved travel case. That's it. Why is everything taking so long? What's going on at Apple Engineering these days?

I really want the AirPod Max but won't be buying the current version with it's annoying and soon-to-be-obsolete Lightning port.
Just buy them (used). Life's too short to wait another two years for the next improvements.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

maxresdefault

Apple Announces 'Let Loose' Event on May 7 Amid Rumors of New iPads

Tuesday April 23, 2024 7:11 am PDT by
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Apple Silicon AI Optimized Feature Siri

Apple Releases Open Source AI Models That Run On-Device

Wednesday April 24, 2024 3:39 pm PDT by
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the...
iOS 18 Siri Integrated Feature

iOS 18 Rumored to Add These 10 New Features to Your iPhone

Wednesday April 24, 2024 2:05 pm PDT by
Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, so the software update is a little over six weeks away from being announced. Below, we recap rumored features and changes planned for the iPhone with iOS 18. iOS 18 will reportedly be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, with new ChatGPT-inspired generative AI features, a more customizable Home Screen, and much more....
Apple Vision Pro Dual Loop Band Orange Feature 2

Apple Cuts Vision Pro Shipments as Demand Falls 'Sharply Beyond Expectations'

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:44 am PDT by
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has "fallen sharply beyond expectations." As a...
iPad And Calculator App Feature 1

Apple Finally Plans to Release a Calculator App for iPad Later This Year

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:08 am PDT by
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple's annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. AppleInsider...