Apple's AirPods Max unveiling was comically crappy, as is the price

There's no fun in being right: we said yesterday that Apple wasn't going to unveil a radically different version of the AirPods Max, and then Apple managed not to meet even our low expectations by unveiling the tiniest of upgrades for its inaugural December 2020 over-ears.

The first update in the Max's four-year lifespan has a single hardware change, and even that is one Apple's been forced to make: USB-C. And that's your lot. There's no upgrade to the audio chip, no alternative to the spectacularly horrible AirPods Max case, no Apple Lossless transmission. Just a few new colors and a slightly different connector.

I'm no hater. I own a pair of Apple AirPods Max, bought with my own money, and I love them. So do my music-mad kids. But you've got to admire Apple's chutzpah: during an event where a ...