Some owners of AirPods Max trooped online and posted complaints about their units experiencing an excessive battery drain.
What is it with Apple and batteries? It seems that for the longest time, battery problems always hound some of the devices of the Cupertino tech giant. The latest to experience the issue is the new AirPods Max, Apple's premier over ear headphones, which the company launched only in December. Some owners complained that their AirPods Max units are having an excessive battery drain, even though when the accessory is in idle mode.
The battery issue that some owners are complaining about is not the first time affecting an Apple device. The same issue hounded older iPhone versions, though many later identified the problem as intended rather than accidental in what is now known as "batterygate," a scandal that cost Apple hundreds of millions in out of court settlement fees. AirPods Max is the latest device to fall victim to the Cupertino tech giant's excessive battery drain, though it is not clear at this point as to what causes it.
Some owners who complained about their AirPods Max's excessive battery drain issue wonder whether the problem is software or hardware-related. Recently, an iOS update caused recent iPhone models to have an excessive battery drain, though Apple immediately provided a fix with another iOS update. Both issues appear to be accidental as opposed to what happened to devices during Apple's "batterygate" scandal.
Significant Power Loss
According to several owners who complained about their AirPods Max experiencing an excessive battery drain, their units had "significant loss of charge" while in idle mode. Online news outlet MacRumors reports that many of their readers are also complaining about their new over ear headphones' battery life.
Some AirPods Max Owners Seeing Excessive Battery Drain https://t.co/a7jzWK2Tcc by @julipuli pic.twitter.com/E58Qcezdcu — MacRumors.com (@MacRumors) January 19, 2021
In one post, a MacRumors reader narrated how his AirPods Max began experiencing the excessive battery drain issue over the last few days. "For example, last night I took the headphones out of the case with 85% battery, used them for about 15 minutes, put them back into the case. But this morning, get a notification via my iPhone that there was only 5% left," the reader wrote. Other owners complained running into the same problem.
Not entering low power mode?
Apple said that excessive battery drain complaints like those posted by some AirPods Max owners suggest their units are properly entering low power mode. Since the headphones do not have a physical power buttons, there is no way to force the units to preserve their battery charge.
In a support document, Apple said that the AirPods Max automatically switch to "low power mode" when owners left them out of the case. If left untouched, Apple said the unit should remain in low power mode for three more days, after which it will enter an "ultralow" power state that shuts down its Find My and Bluetooth functionalities. Some owners complaining about excessive battery drain on their AirPods Max did not mention in their post as to how long their units stayed out of the case. According to Apple, when inside the Smart Case, the AirPods Max will enter into low power mode immediately.
