Apple headset AirPods Max is here, 4399 yuan!
The relatively quiet December in the digital circle was caused by the launch of Apple’s new products.
Just now, Apple quietly updated a blockbuster new product on the official website. The long-rumored AirPods Max, Apple's first headset, finally officially unveiled.
Since last year, we have learned about the existence of this product from various sources of whistleblower and the "Easter Eggs" of the iOS system, and we were looking forward to seeing it at Apple's autumn conference, but the suspense has never been revealed.
With the iOS14.3 Beta launched in early November, the headset icon appeared again. We have reason to believe that Apple will release AirPods Max before the official version of iOS 14.3 is launched. This conjecture was confirmed today.
The biggest AirPods in history is here
From the appearance point of view, AirPods Max upholds Apple's consistent simple style, a total of five colors, including space gray, silver, sky blue, green and pink, the lines on the body are very smooth and simple.
Different from the smooth and rounded plastic shell used by AirPods and AirPods Pro, the AirPods Max cover uses a more refined metal shell design. The oval earmuffs are made of breathable woven fabric, and the head beam is made of mesh fabric padding.
In terms of functions, the highlights of AirPods Max can be summarized as follows:
- Better sound quality, support active noise reduction
- Wear induction, automatic play/pause
- Physical knob control
- Better virtual sound field
- 20 hours of battery life
With the continuous popularity of noise-cancelling headphones, users' demand for noise-cancelling has gradually increased. One year after the launch of AirPods Pro, Apple already has relatively mature product experience in noise reduction. AirPods Max supports active noise reduction is also reasonable.
AirPods Max’s microphone lineup is very luxurious, with a total of nine microphones: eight microphones for active noise reduction, three microphones for voice pickup (one is dedicated to voice pickup and two are used for active noise reduction at the same time). People are looking forward to its noise reduction performance.
Generally speaking, headsets are superior to in-ear headphones in terms of noise reduction and sound quality due to their wrapping design and larger units. The actual noise reduction performance, please wait for the follow-up experience of Ai Faner.
AirPods Max is still equipped with the H1 chip that was used in the new AirPods and AirPods Pro last year. Using 10 audio cores per chip (9 billion operations per second) can bring about adaptive noise reduction, complete noise reduction Mode, transparent mode and spatial audio functions.
AirPods Max allows users to seamlessly switch sounds between iPhone, iPad and Mac. When playing music on Mac, users can also easily answer calls on iPhone, and AirPods Max will automatically switch.
In addition, AirPods Max has built-in optical and position sensors, which can automatically play or pause audio playback. Once one earmuff is removed or raised, the headset will automatically pause playback.
At the moment when TWS's sound quality and noise reduction technology are encountering bottlenecks, how to make products more attractive is a problem that manufacturers need to consider. Apple's answer is "spatial audio".
Before AirPods Pro paired with iOS14, you can already experience spatial audio effects. What can users get from the virtual sound field? In fact, it is a more realistic listening experience. Especially when watching a movie, a stronger sense of direction will make you feel immersive and increase the immersion of audiovisual.
AirPods Max, with a larger sound unit, theoretically will bring better spatial audio effects. Please look forward to the follow-up experience evaluation of Aifaner for specific performance.
Unlike in-ear headphones, wireless headsets have inherent advantages in battery life. According to Apple, AirPods Max supports 20 hours of battery life. Compared to the 4.5-hour single listening time of AirPods Pro, AirPods Max with longer battery life can make people listen to it at once.
In addition, AirPods Max is equipped with a soft and slender smart shell, which can make AirPods Max in an ultra-low power consumption state, helping users to maintain battery power when not in use.
AirPods broke again
The launch of AirPods Max means that Apple has gone one step further on the audio road, with in-ear headphones, headsets and speakers going hand in hand.
Since the release of the first generation of AirPods in 2016, Apple has firmly occupied the dominant position in the true wireless headset (TWS) market. According to Counterpoint Reaserch statistics, by the second quarter of this year, Apple occupied 35% of the market share. , Is still the number one player in the TWS market.
However, it is worth noting that compared to Apple's dominant position in 2019, which accounted for nearly half of sales, the throne belonging to the AirPods series began to falter this year. With the efforts of major manufacturers to catch up, the gap in market share has begun to become less disparity. Both the rising star Xiaomi and the old rival Samsung are eyeing Apple's cake.
At a time when the various parties in the TWS market have gradually become fierce, it is a bold attempt by Apple to shift the AirPods series to the higher-end headset noise-cancelling headset market.
Unlike the TWS market that has been reclaimed from scratch, AirPods Max's opponents include Sony WH-1000XM4, Bose 700 and other noise reduction veterans, and even their own brother Beats Studio 3.
The more refined and retro AirPods Max shoulders the important task of leading the AirPods series to break the game again. Under the environmental protection trend of the new iPhone no longer equipped with headphones, the market performance of this challenger is worth looking forward to.
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