Featured Stories: AirPods Max Announced, Apple Fitness + Launch, Future Apple Silicon Chips

Apple product launches keep coming, and this week Apple introduced AirPods Max, the premium on-ear headphones that were rumored in recent months under the name “AirPods Studio.”

We also learned this week that Apple’s Fitness + subscription service will launch on Monday, December 14 in conjunction with the release of iOS 14.3 and related operating system updates, as we hear a bit more about Apple’s ambitions for future Mac-based chips. On Apple silicon. Check out the details of those stories and more below!

Apple Announces Noise Canceling AirPods Max Over-Ear Headphones, Priced at $ 549

Last week, MacRumors got a memo from AppleCare hinting at a potential hardware announcement on December 8, and Apple delivered it by introducing new wireless over-ear headphones called AirPods Max.

Key features of the AirPods Max include high-fidelity audio powered by an Apple-designed H1 chip in each earbud, spatial audio, active noise cancellation, and adaptive equalizer. Design-wise, the headphones have magnetically attachable memory foam ear cushions, stainless steel telescopic arms and a headband with a “breathable woven mesh” that distributes weight to reduce pressure on the head, according to Apple.

Like the Apple Watch, the AirPods Max feature a digital crown on an ear cup for precise volume control and the ability to play or pause audio, skip tracks, answer or end phone calls, and activate Siri voice control. There’s also a noise control button for switching between active noise cancellation and transparency mode, which lets in some outside sound so you can naturally interact with your surroundings.

The AirPods Max feature up to 20 hours of battery life with active noise cancellation and spatial audio enabled, and they come with a carrying case called a “Smart Case” that places the earbuds in an ultra-low power state that helps preserve charging the battery when not in use.

Priced at $ 549, the AirPods Max are significantly more expensive than some other popular on-ear headphones, including Sony’s WH-1000XM4, which is currently priced as low as $ 278. AirPods Max can be ordered now, with availability. as of December 15, but the headphones are already pending until March on Apple.com. There are five color options, including silver, space gray, green, sky blue, and pink.

AirPods Max unboxing videos: ‘More than good enough to compete with other high-end headphones’

Following the introduction of AirPods Max, Apple has provided the earbuds to selected media and YouTube channels, and hands-on first impressions and unboxing videos are now available.

While it takes more time for in-depth reviews and comparisons, The edgeNilay Patel said the AirPods Max sound “more than good enough to compete with other high-end headphones.” Equally, CNETDavid Carnoy believes that the AirPods Max “raise the bar for noise cancellation”, beating both Sony’s WH-1000XM4 and Bose’s 700 noise canceling headphones in their tests.

AirPods Max come with a magnetic carrying case called a “Smart Case,” which puts the earbuds in an ultra-low power state to preserve battery power when not in use, according to Apple. The case has already become the butt of a joke on social media, and many of the first impression articles shared so far agreed that the case looks quite quirky.

More detailed reviews of the AirPods Max will be available after its release on December 15, so stay tuned for more coverage.

Apple Fitness + launches on December 14

In addition to introducing AirPods Max, Apple also announced this week that its new Apple Fitness + training service will launch on Monday, December 14 in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Apple Fitness + will give users access to a library of exercise videos related to strength, yoga, dance, running, walking, cycling, rowing and more, with new content delivered each week by a team of coaches hired by Apple. Fitness + integrates personal metrics like the heart rate of the Apple Watch to motivate users, encouraging them on the screen during key moments of training.

Fitness + requires an Apple Watch Series 3 or later. Exercise videos can be viewed on an iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV.

Priced at $ 9.99 per month or $ 79.99 per year, Fitness + will automatically appear as a new tab in the Fitness app on iPhone, while iPad users will be able to download the Fitness app from the App Store. On Apple TV, the Fitness app will appear automatically once users upgrade to tvOS 14.3.

Next-gen Apple silicone chips for Mac could include 16-core and 32-core options

Last month, Apple released its first Macs with its custom-designed M1 chip, including a new MacBook Air, a 13-inch MacBook Pro, and a Mac mini.

Apple promised that its transition from Intel processors will take about two years to complete, and a new report this week outlined what we could expect from future Apple Silicon Macs.

According to BloombergMark Gurman and Ian King, Apple is working on several successors to the M1 chip for the new MacBook Pro and iMac models next year, including designs with up to 16 power cores and four efficiency cores. And for a future Mac Pro slated for release in 2022, Apple is said to be testing a chip design with up to 32 high-performance cores.

Apple is also said to be working on ambitious graphics chips that will feature between 16 and 128 cores depending on the Mac model. These chips could be introduced in late 2021 or potentially in 2022.

Useful macOS Big Sur Features You May Not Know About

macOS Big Sur has been around for about a month, but macOS versions never get as much attention as iOS versions, so there may still be some features that you don’t know about. In our latest YouTube video, we rounded up some useful but lesser known consejosmacOS Big Sur‌ tips that are worth checking out on Mac.

An example is the drag and drop menu bar icons. If you open the Control Center in macOS Big Sur, you can click and drag any of the options to add it to the menu bar. So if you want Do Not Disturb to have a one-click menu bar to toggle, just drag it to the menu bar from the Control Center. This works for music playback controls, AirDrop, Do not disturb, and more.

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