The rumor: Apple is not currently planning a follow-up to AirPods Max, according to Mark Gurman (88.7% accurate, via Bloomberg).
- “Apple only recently caught up with demand for the product, and it is not currently working on a second generation of the AirPods Max” Gurman says
- Additional colorways could bet coming in the future, however
- Prior rumors had suggested there was a lower-end version of AirPods Max in the works
Our take: Really disappointed to hear that the low-end version of AirPods Max isn’t happening because I was really looking forward to it. This is the second time we’ve seen Apple go balls-to-the-wall with a high-end audio product and then have no further plans for the device. We first saw this with the 2017 HomePod, and it seems like AirPods Max will follow the same fate. I don’t understand this “let’s introduce a super high-end product that is really great but that no significant portion of the market will ever touch with no plans to ever update it” mentality. But perhaps Beats fills the lower-end gap here…