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New AirPods Max Firmware Unavailable Due to iOS 18.4 Bug, Apple Says Update 'Coming Soon'

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AirPods Max users have been left unable to download Apple's new firmware update bringing lossless and low-latency audio support to the headphones, owing to a software bug with iOS 18.4, MacRumors can confirm.

iOS-18.4-airpods-max-2024-colors-feature.jpg

Apple officially announced the new feature support for AirPods Max last week. Then on Monday, Apple released an AirPods Max (USB-C) firmware update version 7E99 in tandem with the rollout of iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS Sequoia 15.4 software updates for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. However, since then, AirPods Max owners have not been able to successfully update their devices due to an unspecified conflict with the firmware and Apple's latest software.

The AirPods Max firmware was supposed to enable lossless and low-latency audio support as part of the broader software releases. "With this update, AirPods Max will unlock 24-bit, 48 kHz lossless audio, preserving the integrity of original recordings and allowing listeners to experience music the way the artist created it in the studio," said Apple in a press release. "Lossless audio and ultra-low latency audio enable music creators to fully utilize AirPods Max throughout their entire professional workflow on Logic Pro and other music creation apps."

However, after Apple indicated the firmware was available for download, user reports of problems slowly began to trickle in. As it stands, there's no sign that anyone has been able to install the firmware.

It's still not clear what Apple has done in iOS/iPadOS 18.4 and macOS Sequoia 15.4 to cause the issue, but all the indications are that Apple will need to release a point update to its platforms to correct the bug. On its AirPods firmware support page, Apple currently lists the unobtainable firmware version 7E99 for AirPods Max as "coming soon."

Article Link: New AirPods Max Firmware Unavailable Due to iOS 18.4 Bug, Apple Says Update 'Coming Soon'
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/04/02/new-airpods-max-firmware-unavailable/
  • Haha
Reactions: decypher44 and antiprotest
TonyC28 said:
Good word for it. The question is, do they feel embarrassed? I don’t see Tim Cook as they type to barge into a room and flip a table, but dang, someone needs to do something.
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The people who work on these updates and products – the ones who spend countless hours giving their best – very much care.

The people at the top – the ones more concerned with the NYSE than the end consumers – also care, but for very different reasons.

Listen to the workers, and get a new c-suite.
 
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Aeronauts said:
Did nobody test it before releasing the firmware update?
Click to expand...
On the one hand, I understand you. On the other hand, I imagine that there are now so many different Apple devices with different models and different output OS versions that testing becomes very complicated and time-consuming.

Don't get me wrong. I'm also annoyed because I tried to update my AirPods Max yesterday and nothing changed. It would be nice if Apple would put the OS update process more in the user's hands for these devices too, so that the user can proactively carry out an update without it happening “at some point” on its own.
 
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Dark-Signature said:
On the one hand, I understand you. On the other hand, I imagine that there are now so many different Apple devices with different models and different output OS versions that testing becomes very complicated and time-consuming.

Don't get me wrong. I'm also annoyed because I tried to update my AirPods Max yesterday and nothing changed. It would be nice if Apple would put the OS update process more in the user's hands for these devices too, so that the user can proactively carry out an update without it happening “at some point” on its own.
Click to expand...
I could understand if they had problems on older versions of iOS but this firmware update doesn’t work on the latest iOS update 18.4
 
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Dark-Signature said:
On the one hand, I understand you. On the other hand, I imagine that there are now so many different Apple devices with different models and different output OS versions that testing becomes very complicated and time-consuming.
Click to expand...

I have little empathy for this because it's a self made problem. There doesn't need to be 5 different models iPhones in a generation. There doesn't need to be 4 different lines of iPads spanning all sorts of generations of SOC. Apple did that.
 
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Phew... thought I was the only one. I ran out and got a pair and a Logic Pro license when they announced the wired head-tracked Spatial Audio feature. Spatial music is about to get a lot better now that the format is effectively democratized.
 
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Reactions: Ianblackburn
Dark-Signature said:
On the one hand, I understand you. On the other hand, I imagine that there are now so many different Apple devices with different models and different output OS versions that testing becomes very complicated and time-consuming.

Don't get me wrong. I'm also annoyed because I tried to update my AirPods Max yesterday and nothing changed. It would be nice if Apple would put the OS update process more in the user's hands for these devices too, so that the user can proactively carry out an update without it happening “at some point” on its own.
Click to expand...
I am not cutting the $multi-trillion corporation that is supposedly big enough to integrate new emojis AND develop new software/firmware features any slack on something like this. They have the resources to test whatever number of hardware/software permutations exist in their products. This issue suggests they did not successfully perform even rudimentary testing of the rollout process.
 
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Reactions: UnbreakableAlex, Sebosz, chickenpiccata and 5 others
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