Apple's second-generation AirPods Max are now on the horizon, with the current model being the oldest wireless headphones still in Apple's product lineup – so when exactly is the new model expected to launch?
Released over two years ago, the AirPods Max are the oldest current-generation AirPods still in Apple's product lineup. Despite being the most expensive AirPods at $549, the AirPods Max miss out on a large number of features that came to the second-generation AirPods Pro in 2022, such as Adaptive Transparency, IPX4-rated sweat and water resistance, skin-detect sensors, and the U1 chip for Precision Finding with Find My.
At least one new AirPods product has launched every year since 2019. To date, Apple seems to wait two and a half to three years to update each AirPods device and, since 2019, a different AirPods product line has been updated each year. According to this pattern, AirPods Max should be the next AirPods device to receive a refresh, perhaps somewhere between June and November 2023.
- AirPods (first-generation): September 2016
- AirPods (second-generation): March 2019 (two years and six months after previous generation)
- AirPods Pro (first-generation): October 2019
- AirPods Max: December 2020
- AirPods (third-generation): October 2021 (two years and six months after previous generation)
- AirPods Pro (second-generation): September 2022 (two years and 11 months after previous generation)
- AirPods Max (second-generation): June to November 2023?
Apple could, of course, wait even longer to update the device. Past launch dates do not always indicate Apple's future plans, but they can provide insights into the patterns to be expected from the company. Most recently, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that the second-generation AirPods Max will launch in the second half of 2024 or the first half of 2025.
There is even the slim chance that there are no plans to update the AirPods Max, with the product potentially meeting the same fate as the HomePod. It is simply too early in the rumor cycle to say with more precision at the current time – but the second half of 2023 seems like the earliest plausible time frame. That being said, most customers anticipating the second-generation AirPods Max should prepare themselves for an even longer wait.
