Issue: The latest AirPods Pro (and even the $129 AirPods 4) get a more advanced H2 chip, which improves battery life and ANC performance and is necessary for Apple’s adaptive transparency mode. But the AirPods Max are stuck on the older H1 without any of the new features. Fix: None. It still has the H1, farcically.

The AirPods Max may be nearly four years old, but they’re still a great pair of noise-canceling headphones if you’re deep in Apple’s ecosystem and appreciate some exceptional (although, heavy) build quality.

A new model has been rumored for a few years. However, Apple is only tweaking the original AirPods Max model during the iPhone 16 event.