Ming-Chi Kuo, the most prolific—and credible—crystal ball in Apple rumors, says a second version of the AirPods Max headphones is on the way, but production won’t begin until ‘in the second half of 2024, or even 2025. As a reminder, the AirPods Max had been marketed in December 2020. Four years without an update for an Apple product is quite a long time, unless an intermediate version does not see the light of day in the meantime to make some slight improvements (design, H2 chip, etc.).
The analyst is also convinced by his sources that a new, more affordable AirPods model is on the way. These intras, of which Jeff Pu spoke a few days ago under the name of AirPods Lite, would have the main characteristic of being less expensive than the range true-wireless current Apple.
The latter currently starts at €159 for 2nd generation AirPods, goes up to €209 for 3rd generation AirPods with Lightning case, and €299 for 2nd generation AirPods Pro. With these “Lite” headphones, Apple would bring competition to the market for true-wireless sold for a hundred euros. As with the AirPods Max, Ming-Chi Kuo estimates that they won’t be released until late next year.