AirPods Max just celebrated their second birthday in December and while Apple’s fledgling effort at over-ear headphones is still well-regarded, people are naturally curious about AirPods Max 2.
Well if you were hoping to wait for that second generation to fix any of the complaints with the originals you may have a long wait ahead of you as analyst Ming-Chi Kuo projects that they won’t go into production until the second half of 2024, meaning a launch in early 2025 is possible.
In recent tweets, Kuo lists three products due for a refresh within this timeframe. He mentions a second-generation HomePod mini, AirPods Max 2, and a “low-cost version” of Apple’s iconic AirPods.
(1/2)I predict Apple’s next important acoustic product refresh time is will be in 2H24-1H25. The following new products will likely start mass production in 2H24 at the earliest.1. HomePod mini 2.2. AirPods Max 2.3. AirPods low-cost version.February 3, 2023
What should we expect
At no point did Kuo offer clues about what we will see in the AirPods Max 2. The apparent features we hope to see improvements in are noise canceling, better battery life, new color options, and maybe a U1 location chip, and Apple will probably switch to a USB-C port instead of its Lightning port.
Regarding pricing, the first gen AirPods came in at $549, which isn’t expensive for audiophile headphones, but the AirPods Max fall somewhere in between that category and the upper tier of consumer headphones. Based on Kuo’s predictions, we do know that Apple is hoping to produce a pair of $99 AirPods, but almost two years out we’ll believe it when we see it.
However, with Cupertino super focused on getting its $3,000 Apple AR/VR headset out within the year, hopefully it will have some more affordable products too.
Speaking of affordable Apple products, according to a Tweet from our very own Sean Riley and the well-regarded Marques Brownlee, Apple should be selling a coaster for its Homepod. I hope Apple won’t charge $49.99 for something you can buy at Michaels for $2.
Whew, the thriving HomePod coaster businesses must be sweating these updates. https://t.co/YlEAdkhbzQFebruary 2, 2023
