AirPods · Max
2020
AirPods Max
Dual Apple H1 chips, custom 40mm dynamic drivers, a Digital Crown, and luxury materials bring computational audio to high-fidelity over-ear headphones.
- Announced
- 2020-12-08
- Family
- AirPods
- Branch
- Max
- Historical weight
- Paradigm shift
Key specifications
Apple verification ↗- Chip / CPU
- Dual Apple H1
- Ports & charging
- Lightning (later USB-C)
- Weight
- 384 g
- Dimensions
- Over-ear headphones
- Original OS
- AirPods firmware (H1)
- Launch price
- $549
- Released
- December 15, 2020
- CPU cores
- 2
Generation delta
What changed?
Introduced
8- Design
Custom over-ear acoustic system
Apple-designed 40mm dynamic driver with dual neodymium ring magnet motor, maintaining total harmonic distortion of under 1 percent across the entire audible range even at maximum volume.
- Silicon
Dual Apple H1 chips
One dedicated H1 headphone processor in each ear cup, harnessing 10 audio cores per chip (20 audio cores total) for computational audio processing.
- Input
Digital Crown input
Borrowed from Apple Watch for tactile, precise volume adjustment, track playback, call management, and Siri activation.
- Input
Physical noise control button
Dedicated button on the right ear cup for immediate toggling between Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency mode.
- Audio
Nine-microphone array
Eight microphones dedicated to Active Noise Cancellation; three microphones dedicated to voice pickup (two shared with ANC, one dedicated).
- Design
Luxury materials and canopy architecture
Breathable knit mesh canopy distributing weight to reduce on-head pressure, stainless steel headband frame with smooth telescoping arms, and acoustically engineered anodized aluminum ear cups.
- Storage
Magnetic memory foam ear cushions
Detachable cushions engineered with acoustic memory foam and breathable mesh fabric.
- Power
Smart Case
Slim protective cover that automatically places AirPods Max into an ultra-low-power sleep state to preserve battery charge.
Technology DNA
Ideas carried by this generation.
Canonical predecessor
Starts a new branch