Apple introduced in December the AirPods Max, its Apple-branded headphones that join the AirPods and AirPods Pro. Since the launch, a growing number of MacRumors readers who bought the Max AirPods have complained about the battery seeming excessive.
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Complaints range from battery depletion while using headphones to significant battery loss when headphones are destined to be idle. MacRumors Reader VL_424 explains:
I have been using my AirPod’s Max since the launch day, during the last few days I have had a high battery consumption.
For example, last night I took the headphones out of the box with 85% battery, used them for about 15 minutes, and put them back in the box.
This morning I receive a notification through my iPhone that only 5% is left. I wasn’t even trying to connect to the “AirPods”, I was playing the HomePod in the living room. It’s weird that the AirPod Max were awake as they were still sitting in the case .. does anyone else experience problems like this?
Many of the complaints have suggested that irAirPods Max do not enter a low-power mode properly, and without a power button, there is no way to force them to conserve battery. When the AirPods Max was first launched, there was significant confusion about how low-power modes work when the AirPods Max are inside and outside the Smart Case included with the headphones.
Apple in a supporting document clarified that theAirPods Max are designed to enter a “low power mode” after five minutes of being stopped (without placing them in any case). If left untouched, the irAirPods Max are destined to remain in low-power mode for three days, after which the headphones switch to an “ultra-light” power state that turns off Bluetooth and Find My.
When placed in the Smart Case, the, AirPods Max are designed to switch to low power mode immediately instead of waiting five minutes and, after 18 hours, switch to the aforementioned ultra low power state.
Given Apple’s description, battery depletion should be minimized when AirPods Max are not used both inside and outside the box, but there may be a problem with the given low power mode. battery problems experienced by some users.
Lots of MacRumors readers see high levels of battery consumption during the night, sometimes in double-digit percentages, but most see about 10 to 12% battery life a day when headphones are not in use. There have also been reports from some users who saw their headphones completely exhausted throughout the day. From MacRumors DaSal Reader:
Standby battery life is really poor. I only have them for about two weeks and it has already happened that I wanted to use them only to find out that they were completely emptied overnight. You can’t actually store them at 30% and assume you can use them the next time you want.
Some users believe that the problem may be related to the fact that the irAirPods Max do not disconnect from the devices when placed in the case or when entering the low power mode. From MacRumors Broken Hope reader:
This seems to be a problem because they are not properly disconnected from all devices.
I got mine yesterday, I used them with my phone, I was annoyed that my Mac kept saying that irAirPods were close and that I turned off my Mac’s auto-connection, when I left them on overnight that my Max it was still showing on the Mac battery widget, thinking it was a problem, I went to work, got it back and my Max has been sold out at 27% since last night.
With no power-off option, it looks like the irAirPods Max will run out a bit overnight even in low-power mode, but given the number of reports of excessive battery consumption, it looks like there could be – a software error that Apple will have to fix in the future.
Like irAirPods and AirPods Pro, Apple may introduce firmware updates for forAirPods Max, but so far there has been no new firmware release.