Apple hasn’t fixed the AirPods Max’s most annoying design flaw

There’s a revision of Apple’s AirPods Max coming, including new colors and (finally) USB-C charging. But the basic design of the AirPods Max isn’t changing, including one of the headphone’s most annoying flaws. 

Yes, I’m talking about the mesh that’s stretched across the curved metal bands that comprise the AirPods Max’s headband. (Other AirPods Max owners may nominate “condensation death” as their primary design complaint, or perhaps the infamous Smart Case.) 

The mesh-imbued headband certainly looks snazzy in photos and, in theory, promises greater comfort than foam or other, more traditional headband materials. 

But in practice, the mesh on the AirPods Max tends to sag over time, resulting in either an unsightly appearance (think saggy tube socks, while the mesh on my own AirPods Max looks only slightly wrinkly) or the loss of so much tension that the headband’s metal bands rest directly on your scalp—not a fun feeling. 

Ben Patterson/Foundry

Ben Patterson/Foundry

Ben Patterson/Foundry

The mesh may also get discolored as the months roll on. The white mesh on my green AirPods Max, for example, has started to turn a yucky shade of brown. (Apple does offer a support article that explains how to touch up the headband with a homemade cleaning solution.) 

And if you though a darker shade of AirPods Max would save you from the discoloration issue, owners of the Space Gray model have reported what appear to be tiny, “white small cords” appearing within the mesh—likely a sign that the mesh itself has started to break down. 

Now, there’s a fair share of AirPods Max owners who say they’ve used the headphones for years (the Max first came out in 2020) without suffering any headband issues.

But for others, deficiencies in the AirPods Max’s headband seem to appear after about a year or so of regular use—right around the time Apple’s limited warranty expires, as Headphonesty points out.  

And while you can pony up the cash for extended AppleCare coverage, some AirPods Max owners say they’ve gotten static from Apple about repairs.

In any case, the new version of the AirPods Max unveiled at Apple’s “Glowtime” event Monday barely even counts as a revision—we’re only talking a few new colors, a USB-C connector (a welcome change, admittedly), and that’s pretty much it.

The tech specs page on the Apple Store does mention that Apple’s Adaptive EQ feature (which blends noise cancellation with transparency mode depending on nearby noise levels) is coming to AirPods Max, but the wireless H1 chip is being held over from the original Max’s, not the newer H2 chip from the AirPods Pro 2.

Now, to be fair, no one was really expecting a major AirPods Max update during Apple’s event, with all the most recent rumors point toward only the light, USB-C-focused refresh that we ended up getting. 

Still, plenty of AirPods Max owners—myself included—were holding out hope that Apple would do something about the saggy, stain-prone mesh that makes our otherwise fantastic-looking Apple cans look like crap. 

Well, shy of a silent redesign on the headband’s mesh material, the answer appears to be “no.”