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AirPods Max Don't Contain U1 Chip for Ultra Wideband

Obviously so that a year and a half from today they can release the groundbreaking v2, now with the U1 chip!
 
canyonblue737 said:
i think the idea is that apple is using the U1 as the future direction of all apple products to be able to be "located" in space both on a macro scale (like "find my" even away from wifi) as well as in the micro (where in the room are they buried). moving forward many expected nearly all apple devices to have it and then the future "AirTags" would allow you to expand the functionality to non-Apple products. to have a $550 headset without it just seems strange...
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Great....a dongle for a pair of headphones. smh
 
For $549 I'd expect them to include U1, the kitchen sink, and a pair of Ginsu knives.
 
Patriks7 said:
Obviously so that a year and a half from today they can release the groundbreaking v2, now with the U1 chip!
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think it might be less than that. So much about this release feels rushed. wouldn’t be surprised to see either a second iteration or a HomePod-style price cut by this time next year.
 
It doesn’t contain a toaster, bidet or grease gun, either. Another pointless MR article.
 
Toratek said:
It doesn’t contain a toaster, bidet or grease gun, either. Another pointless MR article.
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Don’t remember any rumours that it would contain a toaster, and can’t think of any reason why having a toaster built-in would help tie the device in to the Apple ecosystem or provide extra functionality.

another pointless miserable cynic comment on MR.
 
SirAnthonyHopkins said:
Don’t remember any rumours that it would contain a toaster, and can’t think of any reason why having a toaster built-in would help tie the device in to the Apple ecosystem or provide extra functionality.

another pointless miserable cynic comment on MR.
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“Rumors”. Hahahah.
 
Not U1 in particular for me, but the more I realize is lacking from these the more I just can't grok the higher than expected price either. Seems like the orientation detection was shelved as was the touch control for that awkward looking TouchID. It has a lot of mics but also just a single speaker in each cup. And this as the aluminum cupped product is already 500, 770 in Canada, more than the exchange rate.

This ain't it. I thought a "Sport" model might be like 350, but these already seem like the low end ones with higher end Pros coming.
 
I wouldn't be shocked if U1 functions were incorporated in the H1 chip. That would make a lot of sense and reduce cost.
 
pottmi said:
Will I be able to mute one ear even if the application insists on sending audio to both ears? The context of that question is that Zoom bypasses MacOS audio and removes the balance feature. I want to buy a quality noise cancelling headphone that allows me to override Zoom overriding MacOS. Right now I am using Bose 700s and they do not allow override.
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matrix07 said:
AirPods Pro? You can wear it in just one ear.
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If you wear only one AirPod Pro, you lose noise cancellation, well at least in the naked ear. :)

And yes, Zoom overrides a lot of things and that is annoying. My guess is that there is no Apple side fix for stupid (Zoom)
 
ervingv said:
lol the connection needs to get consistent in the future. Apple has to put USB C on all of their devices. It’s already a mess. The regular person doesn’t care for these mentioned reasons for having two different connections; they just want to deal with one plug and not worry about which plug goes where.
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I agree this sounds good in theory, but I don't think people plug all their stuff into the one cable. They have cables for each, and lightning is just as easy to use as USB-C (reversible connector). The iPhone is Apple's best selling device, so ALL iPhone users have a lightning cable.

It's not that I agree with Apple (I prefer consistency myself), but I just don't see them spending the money to retrofit USB-C into places where the smaller lightning connector already exists or where data transfer requirements aren't a factor.
 
You always have to make difficult design decisions to keep costs as low as possible for consumers. I believe Apple made the perfect choices with AirPod Max.
 
otternonsense said:
The more I read about this product, the more it looks like a four year old design finally released now.
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Pretty much everything Apple releases is a several year old design. :) With all the testing that’s required for manufacturing physical devices, including the custom parts required for them, several years is pretty much a minimum.
 
At least it has Bluetooth 5.0, but for $550 you'd think they could also throw in their mystery spy plane U2 chip...

I mean U1 har har har!
 
Unregistered 4U said:
Pretty much everything Apple releases is a several year old design. :) With all the testing that’s required for manufacturing physical devices, including the custom parts required for them, several years is pretty much a minimum.
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Oh come on. Four years for a frigging pair of headphones?? Even vaccines make it faster to market nowadays.
 
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otternonsense said:
Oh come on. Four years for a frigging pair of headphones?? Even vaccines make it faster to market nowadays.
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How does that even relate? :) How many people potentially died due to the lack of the AirPro Mac headphones in the 4 years they were in development? I’m sure, just like the Mac Pro, the iMac, the iPhone, the iPad, the AirTags, the focus wasn’t LET’S GET THIS OUT BEFORE MORE PEOPLE DIIIIIIIIIIE!
 
Unregistered 4U said:
How does that even relate? :) How many people potentially died due to the lack of the AirPro Mac headphones in the 4 years they were in development? I’m sure, just like the Mac Pro, the iMac, the iPhone, the iPad, the AirTags, the focus wasn’t LET’S GET THIS OUT BEFORE MORE PEOPLE DIIIIIIIIIIE!
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It relates in that headphones don't have to go through endless rounds of R&D, clinical trials, and since no-one is at risk of dying they can make it to market much, MUCH faster ;)

Apple is just stalling. Enough with the excuses.
 
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