Tips for spotting fake Apple Airpods Max in 2021

The AirPods Max are Apple's premium wireless on-ear headphones, featuring active noise cancellation, transparency mode, adaptive EQ and spatial audio, in a range of colour options. Although at £549, the AirPods Max are significantly more expensive than their direct competitors, it's important to note that the H1 chips inside the AirPods Max offer a seamless and fully integrated pairing and device switching experience for iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV users that competitors have not been able to match.

Apple's AirPods have always been fashionable buds with great sound quality, and when it comes to the AirPods Max, you've got everything you need - they're a game changer. As cool as they are, Apple AirPods Max headphones are also being replicated by counterfeiters, and when you're looking to buy one, it usually becomes a very frustrating situation when you don't know whether you're looking at fake or real AirPods Max headphones.

1 - Placing the main buttons

On top of the right ear of the headset are two physical controls: a simple button to toggle between noise cancellation modes and a dial inspired by the digital crown on the Apple Watch. The digital crown offers precise volume control and the ability to play or pause audio, skip tracks, answer or end phone calls and activate Siri. The noise control button easily toggles between active noise cancellation and transparency mode. If the AirPods Max contain any extra buttons on the case or Pods, they're definitely fake.

The placement of the main buttons on real Apple Airpods Max

2 - Details of the loading hole

In this section, we'll take a look at the bottom of the Airpods Max to check the shape of the charging hole, as well as the two small details next to it on both the genuine and fake AirPods Max pairs. As you can see from the images below, we've pointed out three defects on the charging hole of the fake pair and its other two surroundings:

• In the image on the left, you can see how the small round hole on the fake pair is too big. On the other hand, the genuine AirPods have the same hole, which looks smaller and narrower than the fake.
• The charging hole on the Apple AirPods Max replica is also faulty: its silver metal outline looks too thick and too big, as it covers more surface area than it should. Back at the authentic pair, you can see how its metal outline all around the charging hole looks thinner and smaller than the fake.
• The small hole under the charging hole also looks too big on the fake Apple AirPods, while the real pair have the same hole which looks smaller than the hole on the replica pair.

Left: fake Airpods Max, right: real Airpods Max

3 - Using Siri

Holding the crown invokes Siri, although by default the AirPods Max are also always listening for the "Hey Siri" command. Siri's capabilities include the ability to play music, make phone calls, control volume, get directions and more. Siri can also read incoming messages as they arrive with Announce Messages with Siri. For most AirPods owners, this isn't a problem.

Say "Hey Siri" whenever your AirPods Max are in your ears and ask Apple's personal assistant questions. You should hear the telltale beep of Siri gasping for breath before she executes your command. But AirPods Max clone users aren't so lucky. No matter what they try, Siri can't listen and respond to your requests.

4 - The "L" and "R" inscriptions on the inside

Now we're going to talk about the inside of the Apple headphones again. Specifically, what we're going to talk about are the 'L' and 'R' markings that indicate which are the left and right headphones.

In the image with the fake AirPods Max headphones, we pointed out how the letter 'L' on the fake AirPods looks too thin. Looking at the letter 'L' on the real pair, you can see how much thicker and bulkier the 'L' is than the one seen on the fake AirPods. The same goes for the letter 'R' on the fake pair, which is again too thin compared to the real thing.

Left: fake Airpods Max, right: real Airpods Max

5 - Sound quality

AirPods Max feature an Apple-designed 40mm dynamic driver that delivers deep, rich bass, accurate midrange and clear high-frequency extension so every note can be heard. A unique dual neodymium ring magnet motor enables AirPods Max to maintain less than 1% total harmonic distortion across the entire audible range, even at maximum volume.

Fake AirPods Max have substandard audio quality. The audio is not as crisp and clear as Authentic AirPods Max. If the sound is flat and not pleasant to listen to, they're definitely fakes.

6 - The text on the side of the box

Now we're going to talk a bit about the text that's written on the side of the boxes of these headphones.Whenever you check the text, make sure that the markings are always the correct ones. In the image with the real and fake Apple AirPods Max boxes below, we've highlighted how the fake box has the wrong markings.

You can see that the authentic box says "AirPods Max" on the side, and in the same side of the box of the fake pair, there is only the text "Max". Always bear in mind that genuine AirPods must say "AirPods Max" on the side of their boxes.

Left: fake Airpods Max, right: real Airpods Max

7 - Autonomy time

It's very important that you check the battery life of your AirPods Max. The models designed by Apple have a long battery life, with up to 20 hours of audio.

Air Pods Max from replica factories don't have this capacity, and have a range of just 2 to 5 hours.

8 - Instant connection :

One of the very brilliant features of the original AirPods Max is their ability to be automatically detected by an iOS device, so they connect easily with an iPhone.

This functionality is made possible by optical and position sensors on the headphones. Once attached, the AirPods play sound and can be paused when removed or when the user simply picks up an earphone.

AirPods Max do not generally have this feature. They have to be paired manually via Bluetooth.

9 - The price

If you find brand new and very cheap Airpods Max, in the region of £100 to £200 or less, then they are certainly counterfeit. Bear in mind that the real AirPods Max cost €549. That's a hefty price to pay for wireless headphones, but you get the guarantee of Apple quality. Even if you get a used pair of AirPods Max, you won't be paying less than £400 for real AirPods Max. If you're looking at a deal of around £200 to £300, you can simply conclude that they're counterfeit.

Secure the purchase of your Apple Airpods Max with Obvy

So, before you buy, look for something different from an original AirPods Max in the photos, using the tips we've given above. If you don't want to buy your Airpods Max in a shop or on Apple's website to avoid paying the full price, you can try to buy them second-hand on classified ad sites such as Leboncoin.

To avoid scams on these peer-to-peer sites, you can make your purchase 100% secure with Obvy, the secure peer-to-peer payment method. As well as secure payment, you benefit from verification of the seller's identity to avoid scams, and full traceability of the transaction, which is very useful in the event of a problem. What's more, with Obvy you can save money when you buy your second-hand Airpods Max by paying in instalments between private individuals.