AirPods Are Apple’s Next Big Brand
By: Lance Ulanoff
Tags: Branding, Gadgets, Technology, Airpods, Apple

AirPods Are Apple’s Next Big Brand

The new AirPods Max are more than new headphones—they’re a coronation of a core brand

Apple’s AirPods Max. Photo: Apple

Never underestimate the value of a good brand. With the all-new AirPods Max, Apple has christened AirPods as a core brand on almost equal footing with its iconic Mac line.

Think about it. While AirPods Max Bluetooth headphones may have the same H1 audio beating heart as AirPods Pro (and, not coincidentally, Apple’s Beats Solo Pro), they look nothing like a pair of AirPods. Sure, AirPods Max are an audio product, but these are not pods. In fact, in the industry, we traditionally refer to over-the-ear headphones as “cans.”

There’s nothing wrong with Apple slapping the AirPods brand name on its newest audio product. It makes perfect sense for the company to officially position “AirPods” as a crucial brand—one that, like the Mac before it, is more of an idea than a fixed thing or concrete look and feel. Macs, after all, range from a tiny boxlike device (the Mac Mini) to all-in-one devices like the iMac to the hulking art deco Mac Pro. Like the AirPods line, Macs feature the same core technology: macOS and, until very recently, Intel CPUs.

As they say on The Mandalorian, “This is the way.” It’s how Apple builds on an idea whose success may have caught even the company by surprise. When I wrote a few years ago that AirPods are now one of Apple’s most important products, I wasn’t kidding. After initially being derided for their oddball looks, the in-ear Bluetooth buds caught the buying public’s imagination in an almost original iPhone–like way.

The brand is so important that AirPods Max got Apple’s most interesting and forward-learning design in a generation, pulling in some of the company’s favorite materials—anodized aluminum, stainless steel, and Apple-designed stitched fabric—and combining it with new materials like memory foam and flexible mesh. It’s even a place for Apple to crossbreed design and functionality concepts: AirPods Max feature a digital crown based on the same one you have on your Apple Watch.

The most oddball feature might be the Smart Case, which turns your headphones into a sort of tiny handbag in which the headphones are only thing you carry.

I was a bit surprised that Apple made the leap from in-ear buds to headphones, basically skipping the wraparound hybrid design favored by the company’s Beats by Dre brand (see Powerbeats Pro). Now, though, I realize that Apple didn’t want to mix the brands or aesthetic.

Even though the design is different, AirPods Max do extend the original AirPods concept in a big way. The larger device makes room for more powerful audio components, like a 40-millimeter dynamic driver and dual neodymium ring magnets, which should lead to better, louder, and deeper (read “bass”) sound.

From left to right: Apple AirPods Max, top view of right ear controls, left-side stitching inside earphone. Composite photo: Apple

They take active noise cancellation (ANC) to the next level with eight microphones devoted to countering ambient noise and the natural seal from the memory foam ear cups, which are held on by magnets and therefore removable, probably for easy cleanup. Like AirPods, a one-button control enables “transparency mode,” which lets in outside noise that actually comes through the headphone speakers.

The dual H1 chips, one in each ear, will help enable fast pairing with iOS devices, as well as computational and spatial audio. AirPods Max headphones also include gyroscopes and accelerometers for positional audio. How that all plays out in the real world, I have no idea yet.

Apple didn’t make the AirPods Max foldable, but they do have nifty telescoping stems and a sort of flexible tent of fabric in the headband, which should help with fit and reduce the dreaded headphone “head dent.”

In some ways, these are more traditional headphones. There’s no wireless charging, they’re not rated for water or sweat resistance, and when using a bidirectional cable, they work as wired headphones.

The most oddball feature might be the Smart Case, which turns your headphones into a sort of tiny handbag in which the headphones are only thing you carry. It automatically puts the AirPods Max into a low-power state and leaves an opening to charge via a Lightning cable, but there’s no auxiliary power in the case. You should get 20 hours of playback, supposedly even with ANC turned on, and you can get another 1.5 hours of playback with a five-minute charge.

Even with the eye-popping price ($549) and the fact that Beats Solo Pro headphones, with 22 hours of battery life, ANC, and the H1 chip, sell for $150 less, Apple’s canny decision to expand the AirPods brand with an ultrapremium product is a smart one. People love their AirPods and embraced the higher-end, noise-canceling AirPods Pro. But that design can never be immersive. Now you have an immersive AirPods choice.

I’m certain of two things: Early AirPods Max inventory has probably already sold out, and growth of the AirPods brand has only just begun.