You’d have us believe that people have trouble seeing outside their own narrow perspectives? Say it ain’t so!!
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Third-Party AirPods Max Solutions Seek to Address Smart Case Criticisms
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You don’t seem to understand. This is not an accidental Apple failure for customers. This is a deliberate Apple success for third-party manufacturers, and therefore customers. Pause now for a minute, consider what I said, reflect on the rich variety of iPhone, iPad, and AirPod cases out there versus the generally basic Apple cases, and realize I have a point. Apple has rarely been about making the definitive case for anything. They understand that you strengthen your ecosystem by nourishing a healthy third party product marketplace.
Well, I think you’ve got a good point, here. Apple’s influence is already felt in the headphone market by way of Beats. Look at headphones before and after Beats and you’ll see the difference. The Sony headphones in particular look WAY more like Beats now than they did previously. I would NOT be surprised if others stopped including cases or at least started charging for them. Especially since a case WITH your B&O’s is a loss for B&O. A nominal case included with a large healthy “licensed” case economy makes money for B&O and provides incentive for third party companies to make a wide variety of cases.
I love the functionality of the Waterfield, but those ghastly finishes are no bueno. Easy pass.
What a dumb decision by Apple. $550 and they don’t fold up, no power button, and no hardshell case.
I've never used the case that came with my Bose headphones. They travel just fine without one.
"Third-Party AirPods Max Solutions Seek to Address Smart Case Criticisms"
Strange news article title MR. Even if Apple included the world's most ideal carrying case it wouldn't stop 3rd party companies from making compatible cases.
Such drama. I have headphones that came with cases and have never used them, even when traveling.
If I were to buy an AirPods Max and in the unlikely event thought I needed a more protective case, I'd simply buy a cloth-covered semi-rigid case on Amazon for $10-$15. There are many available and look fine.
Although I'm not a fan of the case, it serves the intended purpose of the AirPods Max which is indoor and at-home use. These are somewhat heavy and expensive headphones (relative to other BT headphones) and not meant for exercising, jogging or quickly stuffing into a backpack or bag. The AirPods and AirPods Pro have hardcases for a reason (other than charging). For the folks using these for travel, unless you're haphazardly cramming them into your carryon, they'll be fine in the smart case. But again, not a big fan of the case, even for its intended purpose (a deep sleep button would've been much more useful).
But what exactly is Apple getting out of doing this, especially when there will be plenty of 3rd parties who sell non-Apple approved accessories?
These are just my theories, mind you, but here goes:
- They encourage a third-party accessory market and thus encourage brand interest.
- Cases are not electronic and they don’t need to be Apple approved (not like MFi or HomeKit anyway!). All they need is a magnet in the right place, just like iPad cases.
- Apple doesn’t need to invest a lot in design or manufacturing a complicated case when they know people like Pad & Quill will make great ones. Let the case specialists make the cases.
- Let’s not even call Apple’s case a case. It’s a cover. Airpods Max come with a cover. Cases are coming.
Are you serious? 35 bucks for a hanger? And 99 dollars more to get a proper case? Extremely hard pass on all of these products.
Seems like Apple created the issue because they included the case at all. Plenty of headphones don't come with a case and people wouldn't have scrutinized the headphones box only including the headphones.
Fair enough.
My cousin is an engineer at the Apple HQ and Apple certainly has their logo on some 3rd party accessories (non-electric). He has to test 3rd party accessories that would have to pass Apple certification in order to get the Apple approved logo. I'm using the wrong terminology but Apple certainly endorses select accessories.
Well the same could be said for the iPhone, iPad and Macbook. None of them come with cases and customers must buy their own. Nothing new here, so I wouldn't go so far as to say that Apple purposely didn't included an amazing case with their new cans in order to help the 3rd parties. If that's the case then like I said, nothing new. It's been like that for over 25 years.
Well I never called it anything.
I wouldn’t say so. I mean, how does one have a charging soft case for earbuds? It’s primarily because it needs to be hard to contain the charging electronics.
It's not just about official Apple products and accessories. The Apple economy is a "make it yours" economy. In the accessory market, it is the one product you are assured everyone has accessories for, and the one you are almost guaranteed to find support for anywhere you go.
For me, my transition to Apple products from Android was probably accelerated by the fact that nobody made cool/fun stuff to customize my phones save a handful of vendors. Want a case for a Galaxy Nexus? Good luck. iPhone 4? Within a week, everyone had something.
The same is happening here. We're going to be flooded with smart cases esp. after manufacturing picks up in earnest after Chinese New Year. Cases will be branded specifically "Compatible with the Airpods Max". This is nothing but upside for Apple. That cheap headphone cover made out of extra material from the iPad cases builds its own marketing momentum.
Yup...spent $18 on a hard case from Amazon that holds the APM with Apple’s case also on, will be perfectly fine if I take them anywhere outside the house. Otherwise, they hang from a headphone stand in my office.
Well, I’d rather this than them having the most spectacular case yet sound like ****...
I have the Sony XM4 and the only area where they beat the APM is in their ability to fold up into a smaller, hard case. Noise cancellation, transparency mode, seamless device switching, build quality, device controls and yes, sound quality are all better on the APM—quite significantly in some areas. The XM4 feel like cheap, plastic toys comparatively.
The APM are absolutely more expensive but they are better headphones overall in comparison.
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In the premium headphone world, that's the only thing that matters.