AirPods Max are controversial for a number of reasons. For one, there’s the $550 price tag. But the odd-looking case Apple designed for these over-the-ear headphones also drew plenty of mockery.
The designers of AirPods Max defended their creation in an interview published Thursday.
Evans Hankey, the leader of Apple’s famous industrial design team, spoke with the Japanese-language site Casa Brutus.
The controversial AirPods Max case
Apple’s goal was to create a case that’s not too bulky. “We travel a lot, so we know how important it is to fit in a bag. So it’s extremely storage efficient,” said Hankey (via machine translation).
The case is simple, but functional. “Our case has a structure in which one sheet is cut out and fastened in several places so that it becomes three-dimensional,” pointed out the designer.
But critics laughingly suggest that the design also makes the AirPods Max case look like a bra.
Don’t overlook the headband
Another controversial feature is that the case doesn’t protect the headband. That’s an advantage, according to the head of Apple’s design team. The headband doesn’t need protection.
“When the ear cup is rotated and inserted here, the headband is exposed. Although it is still in the state, it is judged that it is not necessary to cover it because it is made strong in the first place,” said Hankey (again in a machine translation). “Also, thanks to the exposed band, it is possible to have a function that you can easily grasp it with your hand and take it out of the bag.”
AirPods Max headphones went on sale Monday. Despite the criticism, and the high price tag, they’re selling so well they’re nigh-impossible to find.
