Apple has 'one more thing' for Christmas: The $999 Airpods Max

Apple has one more thing for the holiday shopping season: over-the-ear, wireless headphones that will test how much people are willing to splurge on for high-quality sound.

The headphones, called AirPods Max, will cost $999 — far more than similar products from Bose and Sony that offer many of the same features, such as noise cancellation. The lofty price is more double what it costs to buy Apple's in-ear wireless headphones (the original AirPods cost $279; the AirPods Pro with noise-cancellation $449).

Apple began accepting orders for the AirPods Max today, but they won't be in stores until December 15.

The announcement of the long-rumoured headphones caps a one of Apple's busiest autumns in years, despite a pandemic that has kept most of its engineers at home to help fight the spread of the novel coronavirus. Since September, Apple has rolled out its next generation of smartwatches, four new iPhones and Mac computers that will run on its own internally designed processors instead of chips made by Intel.

Some of the new products have included lower-priced options likely to appeal to consumers struggling to make ends meet during a pandemic-driven slowdown.

But the AirPods Max are clearly intended for Apple's more affluent customers looking for the best in acoustics. The over-the-ear headphones are aiming to expand upon the popularity of the wireless ear buds that Apple first released four years ago after eliminating the headphone jack from its iPhones.

AirPods Max come with a soft, slim Smart Case that puts AirPods Max in an ultra-low power state that helps to preserve battery charge when not in use, Apple says.

Like Apple's in-ear buds, the AirPods Max have one-tap setup, followed by automatic pairing with all the devices signed in to a user's iCloud account, including iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV, the company says.

Automatic switching allows users to seamlessly move sound between iPhone, iPad, and Mac. When playing music on Mac, users can easily take a call on iPhone and AirPods Max will automatically switch over, Apple says.