Since the December launch of Apple’s AirPods Max headphones, a growing number of users are experiencing what can be termed excessive battery drain.
MacRumors reports that many of its readers are complaining of their new headphones’ battery life. COmplaints include high battery drain while the headphones are in use to significant loss of charge while the headphones are idle.
One MacRumors reader said:
Been using my AirPod’s Max since Launch Day, over the last few days I’ve been running into some severe battery drain.
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.
This morning I get a notification via my iPhone that there was only 5% left. I wasn’t even attempting to connect to the AirPods, I was airplaying to the HomePod in the room. It’s strange that the AirPod Max’s were even awake as they were still sitting in the case.. anyone else experiencing problems like this?
Complaints such as this suggest the AirPods Max are not properly entering low power button, As the headphones do not sport a physical power button, there is no way to force them to preserve their battery charge.
Apple said in a support document that AirPods Max are designed to go into “low power mode” after being left stationary (out of the case), and if left untouched, should stay in low power mode for three days, after which they go into an “ultralow” power state that turns off Bluetooth and the Find My functionality.
When inside their Smart Case, AirPods Max should go into low power mode immediately, and go into ultralow-power state after 18 hours.
User’s reported issues indicate the AirPods Max are not properly entering low power mode in the above situations.
Some users are experiencing high levels of overnight battery drain, seeing a 10 to 12% battery drain per day while the headphones are not in use. Some users saw their headphones drain completely over the course of the day. From MacRumors reader DaSal:
The standby battery life really is poor. I’ve only had these for about two weeks and it’s already happened that I wanted to use them only to find out they completely emptied overnight. You can’t actually store them at 30% and assume you can use it next time you want to.
Some users believe the issue might be due to the AirPods Max not disconnecting from devices when place in the case or when entering low power mode.
Hopefully, this is a software bug that can be fixed by an over-the-air firmware update. So far, there has been no firmware updated pushed to the new headphones.