On February 13, 2021, I purchased my AirPods Max. After a few weeks with them, I’ve convinced myself that making them so simple that they won’t even turn off and on, but when you get them out of your head, they go into sleep mode (or ultra-low standby consumption with their unique cover), was somewhat frustrating, because for everyday use the cover process was uncomfortable, and without it it became common to find them without a battery. By the way, nothing new for Apple Pencil users.
The fact is that in March I was already looking for support this would allow them to be recharged to always have them with battery. Ideally, with a magnetic connector, like the resurrected MagSafe from Macs. And I found it, but not for sale, but as a promotional campaign. crowdfunding and Kickstarter. Maximum Supportfrom Floating Pixels.
Triple the fundraising goal
His original goal was $35,000. Within a week they had already reached 85,000. I was number 1,107 supporting them. By the end of the expiration month in mid-April, more than 1,300 people had approved them for a total of $103,000. The estimated delivery date was May 2021, one month after the campaign ended.
A few days after the funding ended, they sent us a form to indicate the color in which we wanted to receive the base, because they were going to build it to match the five colors the AirPods Max are coming in. A nice detail.
The five colors the Max Stand arrives in, matching the colors of the AirPods Max.
Everything seemed to be fine, until he was pushed. In May, they reported an initial delay caused by the need to find another supplier for the magnetic connector, and from there various issues arose which meant that “we don’t have the ability to come up with a new date estimated for deliveries”.
When buying from Amazon, you can expect specific turnaround times and, if unsuccessful, a response from the company. When a project is backed by a Kickstarter, the rules change, and that’s where how each project handles its various backlogs comes into play.
In the case of floating pixels, the communication was constant, and the transparency, total, informing step by step of each achievement they have been able to make, or each new problem they have had to face. Let us remember, a project launched in the midst of a global pandemic, with a shortage of components and with a global logistical problem caused by the increase in the cost of transport and containers.
Eleven months after the Kickstarter campaign opened and nine after the original estimated date for first shipments, the Max Stand has arrived. He did it with something advertised, two cablesa USB-C to USB-C for the supportand another magnetic USB-C to charge AirPods Max away from home without having to take the support or go to remove and put on the magnetic adapter. And also with something unexpected, a second magnetic adapterwhich is handy considering its small size and how easily it seems to get lost at some point.
Detail of the AirPods Max resting on the Stand and its USB-C power supply.
Detail of the magnetic connector attached to the AirPods Max, with the stand in the background.
It’s the long story of an accessory which, seen in perspective, could well have been part of the product itself; might as well have been included by Apple. Of course, experience with this support It greatly improves Apple’s proposal with the cover, a mandatory place to avoid running out of battery in a short time. And it also improves the Lightning cable charging process, something many of us left behind long ago thanks to the inclusion of Qi first and MagSafe later on the iPhone and AirPods. .
We can discuss whether or not to go with the charge always towards 100% and we will have to see how the battery of these headphones ages using this accessory, but of course it improves the experience, having previously tended to appear without autonomy after a while on the desk; and replacing that battery is a much simpler process than the rest of the small AirPods family.
And a curiosity about the colors of the AirPods Max: the floating pixels have brought down requests for stalls by color, something that might have something to do with Apple’s sales: 66% space gray, 15% silver, 14% blue, 3% green, and 2% pink. Did you expect such a distribution?
