PSA: No, you don’t need the Smart Case to save battery on the AirPods Max

We’ve already talked about the widely-circulated jokes regarding the AirPods Max—specifically, the Smart Case that resembles a handbag. However, Apple made a point of explaining that the Smart Case also comes with a bit of functionality, despite a lack of any sort of charging capabilities. This is what Apple says:

“AirPods Max come with a soft, slim Smart Case that puts AirPods Max in an ultralow power state that helps to preserve battery charge when not in use.”

Along with:

So, that’s a nice little feature to have on the “Smart” case, right?

No, you don’t need the Smart Case to save battery

As it turns out, you can actually enter a low power mode on your AirPods Max without the use of the Smart Case. On a support page, Apple explains that simply leaving the headphones alone for a couple of minutes will trigger the battery saving mode; after 72 hours, you’ll trigger a lower power mode that even turns off Bluetooth and the “Find My” feature to stretch out battery life.

“If you set your AirPods Max down and leave them stationary for 5 minutes, they go into a low power mode to preserve battery charge. After 72 stationary hours out of the Smart Case, your AirPods Max go into a lower power mode that turns off Bluetooth and Find My to preserve battery charge further.” 

Just to clarify, this is the same low power mode that is triggered by the Smart Case, which Apple admits:

“If you put your AirPods Max in the Smart Case when you’re not using them, they go into a low power mode immediately to preserve battery charge. After 18 hours in the Smart Case, your AirPods Max go into an ultralow power mode that turns off Bluetooth and Find My and maximises battery life.”

The only difference between using Apple’s case to store the AirPods Max is that the case apparently triggers the low power modes in a shorter time span compared to simply leaving the headphones stationary.

This is something that Apple should arguably have disclosed earlier on, although some users seem to understand the company’s motives a little better than others:

Still, it’s a little confusing for users. Perhaps Apple felt that they couldn’t fit that tidbit into the launch information, or perhaps they didn’t have another case-related feature to boast about, but the communication here is muddy at best. For now, it’s good to know that the AirPods Max can indeed be put into a low power mode without the much-maligned Smart Case.

[ VIA ]

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