Let’s be honest: Apple makes some of the most comfortable, best-sounding, and most reliable headphones you can buy. They also come with prices that make you wince. I’ve spent years testing audio gear and watching prices, and I can tell you that paying full price for Apple headphones is almost never the right move. That’s especially true this time of year, when deals start appearing earlier and earlier. Right now, for example, the AirPods Max 2 are $100 off on Amazon, bringing them down to $449, and the AirPods Pro 3 are $49 off, which puts them at $200. Those aren’t the absolute lowest prices we’ve ever seen, and it’s likely that both will drop a bit more before Black Friday. But here’s the thing: if you’ve been waiting for a good excuse to upgrade and you need a new pair before the holiday travel season really kicks in, this is a perfectly reasonable moment to buy. You won’t be kicking yourself, and you’ll save money compared with paying full price. The people I work with at WIRED spend an absurd amount of time testing Apple gear and tracking prices, so we have a pretty good sense of when a deal is real and when it’s just marketing noise. This one is real, even if it’s not the rock-bottom price you might score later. There’s also something to be said for not spending weeks obsessing over whether you should wait. If the headphones are for a trip you have coming up, or if you just want to stop using those frayed wired earbuds that keep falling out, there’s real value in buying now. Yes, you might save another twenty or thirty dollars in a few weeks. But you’ll have been listening to music, podcasts, and calls on something that actually sounds good in the meantime. That’s a trade-off worth making for a lot of people.
Let’s start with the over-ear option, because the AirPods Max 2 are genuinely special. I’ve been testing them for about three months now, and they’ve quietly become my favorite headphones for travel. I fly more than I used to, and there’s something about a long flight that makes you want to block out the world. The AirPods Max 2 do that incredibly well. They can’t prevent airplane ear, which is that annoying pressure you feel during takeoff and landing, but they make the rest of the flight dramatically more pleasant. Instead of cramming little earbuds into your ear canals for hours on end, you get plush over-ear cushions that wrap around your head like a comfortable pillow. The noise canceling is about one and a half times more effective than the previous generation, which sounds like marketing-speak until you’re sitting next to a crying baby and realize you can barely hear them. They also support lossless audio, which is a nice bonus if you care about sound quality, and you can plug them in with a USB-C cable for ultra-low latency audio when you’re gaming or editing video. The design is classic Apple: clean, minimal, and recognizable from across the room. The sale applies to all five colorways, so you can pick midnight, blue, orange, purple, or starlight without worrying about paying extra for a specific shade. At $449, this is a good deal, though I’ve seen them go for a bit less. If you already own the original AirPods Max, I wouldn’t rush to upgrade. They’re still great, and the differences aren’t dramatic enough to justify spending more money unless you really want USB-C or the improved noise canceling. But if you’re coming from older headphones or nothing at all, these are worth serious consideration.
If you’re more of an earbuds person, the AirPods Pro 3 are probably the better fit. Right now they’re $200, which is $49 off the regular price. I’ll be straight with you: this isn’t the best deal I’ve seen on these earbuds. If you can hold out until Black Friday, you might save a little more. But if you need a new pair today and you own an iPhone, these are my favorite earbuds you can buy, and $49 off is still better than paying full price. I reach for them constantly when I’m out and about, working out, or just want the convenience of being able to pop an earbud out quickly to hear what someone is saying. The transparency mode is so good that I often don’t even need to take them out, which is one of those little features you don’t appreciate until you’re trying to order coffee with headphones in. They’re also my go-to for runs because the silicone ear tips stay in place even when I start sweating. There’s nothing worse than stopping mid-run to push your earbuds back in, and these just don’t have that problem. They might not be as new as the standard AirPods 5, but in terms of actual performance, they’re better. They have three times more active noise canceling than the previous generation, built-in heart rate sensing for workouts, adaptive EQ that tunes the sound to your ears, and even hearing aid features that make them more useful than just a pair of earbuds. Battery life sits at around eight hours with noise canceling on, and you get up to 24 hours with the charging case, which is plenty for a few days of commuting, gym sessions, and calls. You also get five different sizes of ear tips, so you can really dial in the fit. If you’ve ever had earbuds that feel loose or fall out, that extra sizing flexibility makes a big difference.
Now, about the timing. I know there’s a temptation to wait for the absolute lowest price, especially when Black Friday is right around the corner. But there’s also something to be said for not overthinking it. These are quality products, and the current discounts are meaningful. If you buy now and then see a slightly better deal next week, you might feel a twinge of regret, but you’ll still have gotten a solid price on a pair of headphones you’ll use every day for years. On the other hand, if you wait and the price doesn’t drop as much as you hoped, you’ll have spent weeks without the new gear you wanted. That’s not a huge deal if you’re just being patient, but it matters if you’re traveling for Thanksgiving, starting a new job, or trying to focus in a noisy office. There’s also the gift factor. If you’re shopping for someone else, buying now gives you time to wrap the gift, maybe test it out yourself, and avoid the chaos of last-minute holiday shipping. The return policies at most major retailers are pretty forgiving this time of year, so if the price drops significantly after you buy, you can sometimes get a refund of the difference or just return and repurchase. But that’s not guaranteed, so I wouldn’t rely on it. What I would say is this: if you’re the type of person who hates paying full price and doesn’t mind waiting, Black Friday will probably be a little kinder to your wallet. If you’re the type of person who wants something nice to listen to right now, the current deals are good enough to stop waiting.
There are a few other things worth keeping in mind before you pull the trigger. Apple headphones are designed to work best with Apple devices, and while they’ll connect to Android phones and other gadgets, you lose some of the magic. The seamless switching between your iPhone, iPad, and Mac, the instant pairing, the spatial audio that follows your head movement, all of that works best if you’re already living in the Apple ecosystem. If you’re an Android user, you might be better off with something from Sony or Bose, which offer great noise canceling and compatibility with more devices. But if you’re an iPhone user, the AirPods Max 2 and AirPods Pro 3 are just easier to live with. They connect the moment you put them in, they pause when you take them off, and they switch between devices without you having to dig through settings menus. Those little conveniences add up over time. Comfort is another thing to think about. Over-ear headphones are generally more comfortable for long listening sessions, but they’re also bulkier, and some people find them too heavy or too warm. Earbuds are lighter and more portable, but they sit inside your ears, which isn’t everyone’s favorite feeling. The AirPods Max 2 are heavier than some competitors, but the cushioning does a good job of spreading that weight out. The AirPods Pro 3 are much lighter, but you have to be okay with having something in your ear canal. There’s no single right answer. It really comes down to your lifestyle and what you value more. If you’re on planes all the time, the over-ear pair is probably worth the extra money. If you’re at the gym every day, the earbuds are the more practical choice. And if you’re already happy with the original AirPods Max, you can skip this upgrade. They’re still good enough that buying a new pair would just be spending money for the sake of it.
So what should you do? I’ll give you the same advice I give my friends: if you need a new pair of headphones or earbuds right now, buy them. You’re getting a real discount on products that are genuinely excellent, and you’ll get immediate use out of them. If you can wait a few weeks, wait. Black Friday will likely bring slightly lower prices, and you won’t lose anything by being patient. But don’t wait forever. Apple products don’t go on sale all that often, and when they do, the discounts are usually modest. The AirPods Max 2 at $449 and the AirPods Pro 3 at $200 are both solid deals, especially for Apple loyalists who want the best sound and the best integration with their iPhone. They’re not impulse purchases, but they’re also not the kind of thing you’ll regret. If you’ve been eyeing them for a while, this is a good time to finally make the leap. And if you’re still deciding between over-ear and in-ear, think about where you’ll use them most. On a plane, in a noisy office, or at home on the couch, the AirPods Max 2 are hard to beat. At the gym, on a run, or in your pocket, the AirPods Pro 3 are the obvious choice. Either way, you’re getting a great product at a better price than usual. I’ve tested a lot of headphones over the years, and these are among the best Apple has ever made. They’re not perfect, and they’re not cheap, but they’re worth it if you value great sound, comfort, and that effortless Apple experience. So go ahead and treat yourself. Your ears will thank you.
