Available in space grey, silver, sky blue, green or pink, early adopters of the $549 AirPods Max headphones have been spoiled for choice. But for anybody with buyers’ remorse over the color they ended up getting, you can now change things up – for a price.
Apple has started selling AirPods Max ear cushions for $69 a pair in the Apple Store. The cups themselves are attached to AirPods Max via magnets, making swapping them a cinch. No screwdriver is required, which is one of the positives iFixIt found during its teardown.
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It’s not clear as to whether Apple sees its AirPods Max ear cushions as a replacement for people with tears and day-to-day wear (though we’d hope that’s not a pressing issue after less than two months on store shelves) or as a lucrative accessory sideline, like Apple Watch straps.
Even if they’re not intended for customization, you can certainly treat them that way. Ear cushions come in the same colors as the AirPod Max themselves, meaning you could mix and match: pair a set of silver ear cushions with your green headband, if you like. Or there’s nothing stopping you buying two sets of ear cushions and using a different color cup on each side (other than the $138 bill, of course.)
At the time of writing, you’re stuck with the headband color your AirPods Max came with, but that might not always be the case. During iFixIt’s teardown, the company found that the AirPods Max headband could be easily removed by pushing a SIM card eject tool or an unfolded paper clip into the small holes underneath each ear cup. That, combined with 9to5Mac’s discovery that iOS 14.4 devices can detect “headband type," suggests that this isn’t the last AirPods Max accessory Apple has planned.
We were very impressed with these headphones in our AirPods Max review, but there’s no denying that there are cheaper options available that’ll suit most needs. But if you want killer features like spatial audio along with a head-turning design you can customize, these cans are worth a look.
