Apple has surprised the world by announcing the AirPods Max 2 last week, which is a very modest revision mainly focusing on bringing the H2 chip that is already well known. In his Sunday newsletter, Mark Gurman states that this new version is primarily aimed at optimizing production and extending its lifespan rather than truly relaunching the product.
The headphone is a mixed success for Cupertino. It sells enough to not consider halting production, but not enough to allocate a budget to actually improve the product. Creating a true V2 would require mobilizing a team and time until production, which is apparently not on the agenda.
To avoid abandoning its product, Apple has decided to adopt the H2 chip. This chip was unveiled 4 years ago and is now integrated into the entire AirPods range. On the other hand, the H1 chip from 2019 has been gradually phased out with the arrival of the AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2. Transitioning the headphone to the H2 chip undoubtedly allows Apple to completely abandon the production of H1 chips and optimize costs.
Internally, this very minor update was therefore considered as such. Mark Gurman claims that these AirPods Max 2 wouldn’t even have been given a new code name as the changes are minimal. Most of the new features (better noise reduction, audio improvement) are directly related to the chip and not to changes in other aspects.
Apple’s choice to call them AirPods Max 2 is therefore questionable given the lack of new features. Adding a “2” will surely help sell some batches of this headphone that is now well established on social media and in gyms. There have been no rumors leaking about a potential true successor at the moment.
