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Aside from the price, the lack of switch off ability is a deal breaker. You get home you sit on sofa and someone sends you a video. But your headphones are off, does it play through iPhone or AirPod maxes?

Clearly you've never used AirPods before. They stop receiving audio when you take them off your head, so in your example the video would play through the iPhone.
 
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And if a puppy dog wags its tail counterclockwise or a turtle is in mating season twice in a year, it goes into an ultra-ultra-low power mode after 22.6537225 minutes if the GMT offset is the absolute value of 3 hours or less. Otherwise, low power mode. Very intuitive. It just works.

Right, because your hyperbolic example is so close to the reality of "they turn off when you take them off your damn head."
 
If the circuits and gates allows it then a simple firmware update should technically add a off switch function to the noise cancellation button by long pressing the noise cancellation button, if not, then updates can still be pulled for early kicking of the ultra low power saving mode when leaving them stationary. Apple could easily fix this if it wants, but the question here is that will they do it?, as it will affect the sales of the additional purse shaped case.

There's literally nothing to "fix." They perform exactly as Apple intended them to, and they aren't going to change their minds based on a bunch of forum posters, who probably aren't going to buy the product anyway, whining about the most trivial thing imaginable.
 
Literally anyone with a brain could figure out that you don't NEED the case to preserve the battery, and that the headphones wouldn't just stay "on" indefinitely.

That being said, I'm sure this is more a case of taking time to update the support site than deliberately hiding anything.

No one thought they stayed on indefinitely. We just wanted to know how long they stayed on before being put into the case. But thank you for providing such an insightful comment.
 
this is the most disappointing Apple product of 2020 hands down. And considering we also got the mag safe duo and iPhone leather sleeve this year that’s saying something.
 
Are...are you actually losing “a ton” of battery?
Are...are you really THAT defensive over an Apple product? I said it would be nice to know that we don't need the case in order to not lose battery life. Apple was anything but clear on the launch of these and only said "put them in the case to put them in low power mode." Being some of the most expensive headphones on the market with the least amount of battery life I don't think being clear is too much to ask here.
 
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Great design should be all round - this power solution is definitely not great design. Apple fail.

Although give it a year and everyone will be doing it...my car, Samsung, ceiling lights....everyone. On is the new off.
 


When Apple unveiled AirPods Max last week, it revealed that they don't come with an on/off power button, but instead enter an "ultralow" power mode when inserted into the included Smart Case. That left a lot of questions about what happens to battery life when they're left out of the Smart Case and not being actively used. However, today Apple has provided some somewhat surprising answers to those questions, suggesting that the Smart Case isn't as essential to preserving battery life as many first thought.

AirPods-Max-Smart-Case-Battery-Life-Feature2.jpg

According to Apple, when AirPods Max are taken off but not put in their Smart Case, they enter a "low power mode" after five minutes of being left stationary. If left untouched, they remain in this low power mode for three days, after which the headphones enter an "ultralow" power state that disables Bluetooth and their Find My location to help further retain their remaining charge. From Apple's AirPods Max support document, updated overnight:
Apple has also clarified how AirPods Max behave when placed in their Smart Case, and it turns out that the same two distinct low power states are involved, but enabled at different times. The first "low power mode" is immediately activated upon insertion, but the "ultralow" power mode doesn't actually kick in until after 18 hours in the Smart Case.
Based on this description of AirPods Max power-saving modes, it would appear that the headphones enter the same "low power mode" when put down and left alone for five minutes as they do when placed in the Smart Case. However, the same "ultralow" power mode that activates after AirPods Max have been left for 18 hours in the Smart Case takes a full 72 hours to kick in when they are left out of the case.

Before Apple provided the above information, tests conducted by MacRumors suggested that AirPods Max battery drains only slightly faster when left outside of the case – a difference that is likely down to the longer time it takes for the "ultralow" power mode to activate when the headphones aren't in the Smart Case.

Putting aside the seeming arbitrariness of these sleep mode activation times, the main takeaway is that in the short term at least, there's no real power-saving advantage to be had from putting AirPods Max in the Smart Case instead of just setting them down on a desk and not touching them. But if you don't plan to use them again for the next 18 hours, then that's when to put them into the Smart Case, otherwise the "ultralow" power mode will take three days to activate, by which time the battery drain is likely to be a lot more significant.

Given the confusion that has followed the power-saving features of AirPods Max, some users have speculated that Apple might be able to add a power-off functionality to the physical controls via a future software update. Is that something you would prefer over the current situation? Let us know in the comments.

Article Link: Apple Clarifies Power-Saving Modes of AirPods Max When Not in Use
Yes, please give us a damn off button. I like that is has low power modes and all but the best way to save power is a full off function. All they have to do is change the button via an update to allow the noise canceling/transparency button to be held down for 5 to 8 seconds and it will power off. Simple, problem fixed. You can still use the current features but at least we have a choice.
 
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Are...are you really THAT defensive over an Apple product? I said it would be nice to know that we don't need the case in order to not lose battery life. Apple was anything but clear on the launch of these and only said "put them in the case to put them in low power mode." Being some of the most expensive headphones on the market with the least amount of battery life I don't think being clear is too much to ask here.
I’m not defensive, I’m not buying one of these.

Im just particularly annoyed by people pretending to have an issue that isn’t impacting them in anyway, Apple related or not.
 
Yes, please give us a damn off button. I like that is has low power modes and all but the best way to save power is a full off function. All they have to do is change the button via an update to allow the noise canceling/transparency button to be held down for 5 to 8 seconds and it will power off. Simple, problem fixed. You can still use the current features but at least we have a choice.
I don’t think Apple wants these powered off fully because that would disable their participation in their mesh “find my” network. This is going to be a thing in all Apple products soon enough.
 
I don’t even find the fact they need to be in the case to power off to be so bad.
But the case is such a horrendously awful design that means I wouldn’t want to keep it anywhere near the headphones
 
MKBHD (or whoever from Apple briefed him or gave him talking points) has some ‘splaining to do about that “after about 2 hours” comment that confused the internet for 2 weeks.

So, in daily usage the smart case saves a grand total of 5 minutes before them going to low power mode anyway.

And in travel usage it shortens the “Find My” window from 72hrs to 18hrs, not even a day to realize you left them somewhere.

Think I’d keep them out of the case.

This. I got repeatedly bashed by people here in this forum by my saying right from the start that whole 2 hour thing made no sense to me and that the case really wasn't that key. Then I provided data showing it wasn't real. And still I got bashed. People insisting the sky was falling down because of the 2 hour power loss.

People really need to start thinking critically and not believing everything they hear during a first impressions unboxing. Especially over something that is so easy to test. Or at least be open to listening to other ideas. Thats how we all learn.

Btw, even 18 hours in low power mode, versus ultra low, is about 6% loss, 72 would be roughly 24%. I guess I can live with 6% if it means I have a better chance of finding them when misplaced.
 
I don’t even find the fact they need to be in the case to power off to be so bad.
But the case is such a horrendously awful design that means I wouldn’t want to keep it anywhere near the headphones
I strongly suspect there is going to be plenty of 3rd party cases for this device, probably rolled into the MFI certification program.
 
No one thought they stayed on indefinitely. We just wanted to know how long they stayed on before being put into the case. But thank you for providing such an insightful comment.

Maybe you didn't claim that, but plenty of people of this very forum claimed that they stayed on indefinitely and that they drained power at the same rate as if they were on and playing music.
 
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£550GBP ($740USD) and you get a bra instead of a case.

Fine by me, I'm used to bras containing really good things. I wouldn't be using the case anyway though.

As for the rest I'm told they aim for accurate sound reproduction. I like that as the SONY's I tried focused too much on boomy bass, which is why I prefer Sennheiser. Supposedly they also have really excellent microphones due to using a better codec/bitrate than the standard BT profile.

The power scheme doesn't sound complicated, it sounds seamless. Maybe people are overthinking it? We'll see...
 
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Did you even read the article?
Yes, low power mode for 3 days after 5 minutes of inactivity then they go in to an ultra low power mode. To put it in ultra low power mode immediately (well within 18 hours anyway) by using the storage solution. Or my thought was you could have a feature called power off - by pressing a button - this way you could power down and maybe in a week's time pick them up power on and have as much power as you left the headphones with.

*** Seems looking at another post you can press both buttons to power off - would've be nice to know this on the original post, seems Apple do have a solution - they just don't tell you ***

Except that storing them in the case does not really benefit battery life.

18 hours in the case to activate the ultra lower power mode vs 72hrs outside of the case.

Because holding power buttons to turn on Bluetooth devices has been a bane for decades.

I quite like turning things off to be honest, saves power. Turning my Bluetooth speaker on isn't really a massive problem.

By "ridiculous storage procdure" do you mean just putting them down and letting the aforementioned ultra-low power mode kick in after a few hours?

If you want to put them in Ultra lower power mode (after 18 hours) you need the case if you want avoid significant battery loss or 72 hrs of low power (according to the article).

Did you actually read the article? Or did you just assume what you wanted to assume and come here to talk nonsense? The whole point is that you do not need the case to maintain battery life; the headphones handle it themselves.
Yes I did, if you don't plan to use them for a few days then the case will reduce significant battery loss (after 18 hours).
 
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Yes adding power-off functionality to the physical controls via a future software update is something I would prefer over the current situation.
 
I’m willing to bet that more than 90% of the people emotionally trashing Apple over this don’t even own the AirPods Max. Had this been Sony or Microsoft this complaining wouldn’t be happening.
 
Good grief. Is there nothing that people won’t fret about? What do people do with their iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches? We know people aren’t turning them off. Is it so hard to charge a pair of headphones like you would your phone or computer?
I guess most people just leave them off and only turn them on when they need to use them (or so it appears). Apple typically does a good job at battery life management. It's simply imo... just charge them overnight if one's been using them often, not that hard... but then again, people won't have something to complain about.
 
I’m willing to bet that more than 90% of the people emotionally trashing Apple over this don’t even own the AirPods Max. Had this been Sony or Microsoft this complaining wouldn’t be happening.

That's with any Apple product and it goes with the territory. I do own the APM and the case isn't a deal breaker, but they could have put a little effort into it. I mean calling it a "Smart Case" is laughable. By their own admission it literally does nothing except put them in "ultra low power mode" a little bit sooner than without a case. Its literally about as dumb functionally and dumb looking that they could have possibly done.
 
The notion of “trust in Apple” comes to mind with things like this, as it seems most reputable reviewers jumped the gun in criticising Apples Smart Case for AirPods Max and what they perceived to be the battery saving function surrounding it without actually doing the testing to see if it was even necessary to have them in there (which as we know now for the most part isn’t). And once again when the ins and outs of the product are revealed it appears Apple has (and usually always does) takes steps in insuring good function with its products that make sense to most users. Have faith, but most importantly to the reviewers who just want to push their review out as quick as possible to get ahead of the other YouTube reviews, take more time with apples products and understand the nuanced features it may have before jumping the gun next time, and giving the masses a bad or inaccurate first impression.
 
Are they still connected to your phone for those 3 days....? Do they keep reconnecting every time they come back into range? Genuine questions
 
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