So, here I thought Apple was done in March, but no. After nearly 6 years, they finally decided to drop AirPods Max 2. And while I have a lot of positive things to say about the Neo, this is like the exact opposite. This is peak laziness. I mean, they're good headphones. It's just they should have came out about a year ago. Let's begin. They're not worth it. There, I said it. If you're not going to watch the whole video, that's my opinion. But AirPods Max are the exact same price as before. They still have the stupid bra case. It's the exact same color scheme as before, probably so they could recycle the packaging. Really, the only big noticeable change that we were asking for years ago was the H2 chip. Yes, the H2 chip that was in the AirPods Pro second gen, not third gen, that's been out for a while now. They just recently started including the H2 chip, which includes live translation, adaptive audio, conversation awareness, all the great features you find on the less than half the price AirPods Pro. But what does the H2 chip unlock with AirPods Max? Well, technically 50% better noise cancellation, which is kind of hard to measure because anytime Apple talks about active noise cancellation, they just compare it to previous generation headphones. So, AirPods Pro 2 have twice the active noise cancellation of the original AirPods Pro. And now AirPods Pro 3 have four times the active noise cancellation of the original AirPods Pro. So, that's what we're used to seeing in terms of upgrades, like 2x, 4x. AirPods Max is like halfx. So, it's 50% better, but not quite twice as good. But, I guess AirPods Max probably have a completely different ANC profile. They were already pretty good. And they make the update to Bluetooth 5. 3 over Bluetooth 5 on the last gen AirPods Max, which is funny considering the $500 MacBook Neo comes with Bluetooth 6 and a display and a keyboard and trackpad and speakers and an A19 Pro chip. You know, it's a full-on Mac for less money and it gets better connectivity. So, I don't know where the money is going in this thing. I guess the overarching canopy they call it. Yes, it still supports the same version of lossless that the outgoing AirPods Max first generation supports, but bizarrely on the compare page, they are getting even more vague with the battery performance. They're still saying it's the exact same battery life of 20 hours, but they are no longer saying how long the battery will last when using spatial audio. I would assume it's the same. I don't think the H2 chip is any more power hungry. I'm just confused why this is coming out now and not last year when they just suddenly decided to switch over to type-C instead of lightning. Yes, that solved one problem, but why the heck did they keep using that H1 chip for another year? I swear it feels like they had a bunch of H1 chips left over in the supply chain and they were like, well, we got to ship these H1 chips and something. And they're updating the cheaper AirPods a lot more regularly, right? So, they just came out with AirPods 4. Those already made the jump to the H2 chip. So, for the longest time, they must have just been, "Eh, throw the H1 chip in the AirPods Maxes and call it a day, and we'll drop the H2 chip in there once we run out of H1s. " And that just so happened to be today for some reason. But as much as I may complain that these headphones are very expensive for what they're offering, and the H2 chip is not particularly new. So, if anything, you'd be hoping Apple would be cooking up some kind of H3 chip, or at least some more up-to-ate colors, you know, space black instead of midnight, or at least blush to match the new MacBook Neo. Do you think it's crazy to advertise the Neo and AirPods Max at the same time? Cuz Apple doesn't. Why can't we color match the headphones with the new awesome laptop for students? They saved all this money on their MacBook. Now they can blow it on their headphones. They're also still not dust, sweat, and water resistance like the cheaper AirPods are. So, they're over years. And as much as I may complain, I do see these things everywhere. I mean, it's probably because they're the only pair of AirPods that you actually have a wired backup option. So, if you fly a lot and you want to plug in your headphones to the in-flight media, this is the only pair of AirPods that, you know, seamlessly integrate with your iPhone that also have that hardwire backup. Otherwise, you got to go with Beats or Bose or something that might not connect as easily or might not feel as comfortable. I don't really understand the popularity, but I got to tell you, anytime I go to an airport, I see at least like 15 to 20 AirPods Max's. So, maybe Apple is just kind of genius for throwing out their old H1 chips in these things because they knew people were going to pay for them. the drivers and the sound quality of them are still fantastic enough for the everyday person to appreciate and they're high enough build quality for people to justify the price despite the fact that the next gen of AirPods Max is still the exact same weight so it doesn't get any more comfortable so much is the same with this generation including the price which I think this would have been an interesting opportunity to reshape the narrative if we are moving towards that John Turnis Apple where everything is just cooler because Apple's making enough money off the services, right?
Segment 2 (05:00 - 07:00)
You're getting enough iCloud Plus revenue. You're getting all kinds of Apple TV Plus revenue now. Sorry, it's not even called Plus anymore, so you don't need the margins to be as thick on the hardware, right? And I thought that's why we got such an incredible value with the Neo, but nope. Turns out there's still that good old-fashioned Apple sticking around where there's certain products they just do as little work as possible on and don't change the price. You know, I feel like today's video would have had a very different narrative if AirPods Max 2 started at like $3. 99 or at least $4. 49 and then we could be like, "Okay, they're better than before and they're cheaper. " But you know what? Who am I to tell them what they're doing? They're clearly selling incredibly well. I see them all over the place. So maybe Apple's figured out the headphone market considering AirPods themselves, if spun off into a separate company, would still be in the S& P 500. I think even S& P 100. That's how insanely successful these things are. So, good job, Apple. I don't know what the margins are on the Max, but I hope they're good. And please, for AirPods Max 3, which we're probably not going to get for another 6 years, could you make a better case? You know, like one that doesn't feel like a thrown together origami lesson, you know, something that actually protects the outside of the headphones in that careful canopy arch. And also perhaps a way to charge them inductively. It's pretty insane when you consider AirPods Pro 3. You can charge with type-C. a randomQI charger. You can charge it with Mag Safe orQi 2. There's so many ways to charge regular AirPods Pro. But then as soon as you get to AirPods Max, it's like wired only. You'd think Apple with all of their creative engineering could make some kind of inductive charging stand. That would be nice to like park your AirPods on, even if they had to fall back through a USBC port. Just something made by Apple so you wouldn't have to go third party and include that with the insane price of the headphones. We already had the Pro stand. Maybe call this one the Max stand because it's AirPods Max, right? I don't know. Maybe these are all features they're going to have to reserve for the AirPods Ultra that launch later this year. Feel free to let me know your thoughts on AirPods Max 2 down in the comments below. And thank you to everybody supporting this channel directly. Seriously, helps us out a ton as does just watching these videos. So, thanks again. This is Apple. I'll see you all in the next one.
