A federal judge has thrown out most of the claims in a proposed class action accusing Apple's AirPods Max of a condensation defect, ruling that the $549 headphones do what they were built for even if they fall short of a buyer's expectations (via Law360).


Filed in April 2025 by two plaintiffs, the suit alleges that condensation builds up inside the AirPods Max ear cups during normal indoor use, which can degrade sound, break ear detection and active noise cancellation, and interfere with charging.

From the 24-page order:

On April 9, 2021, while residing in New York, Plaintiff Apicella ordered AirPods Max headphones and AppleCare+ through Apple's website. Upon receiving and using his AirPods Max, Plaintiff Arthur Apicella "noticed excessive condensation in his AirPods Max ear cups while watching a movie," and his AirPods Max "generate[d] condensation in the ear cups every time he used them, often after only about 15 minutes of use."

On May 23, 2021, while residing in Washington, Plaintiff Dustin Amundson purchased AirPods Max headphones and AppleCare. Shortly after purchasing them, Plaintiff Amundson "noticed excessive condensation in his AirPods Max ear cups while performing every day tasks, indoors, at home," and they "generate[d] condensation in the ear cups every time he use[d] them."

Plaintiffs allege that they "are unable to use their AirPods Max to enjoy 'exhilarating high-fidelity audio' . . . or the supposed '[s]patial audio with dynamic head tracking [giving them] a theater-like experience for movies and shows, with sound that surrounds [them.]'" Instead, they experience switches in connection between their devices, pauses in connectivity or sound quality, failure to connect to wireless networks "with increasing frequency as the condensation worsens," and "failure to maintain its battery charge" for the advertised 20 hours.

Both plaintiffs claim that Apple knew about the problem as early as 2018, but stayed quiet.

However, in an order issued on Monday, Judge Orelia E. Merchant of the Eastern District of New York dismissed every claim brought under New York law with prejudice. She found that the state's implied warranty of merchantability asks only that a product meet "a minimal level of quality," not that it needs to be perfect. She also noted that one plaintiff had successfully used his AirPods Max to watch a movie.

The New York resident was dropped from the case entirely, while the Washington state resident may still proceed with two claims under Washington law and the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.

The AirPods Max condensation phenomenon is fairly well-known at this point. Condensation frequently forms where warm body heat meets the cooler aluminum ear cups. Owners began reporting condensation soon after the headphones launched in December 2020. By 2023, the issue was sometimes referred to as "condensation death" following reports that some headphones had stopped working due to the accumulation of liquid.

Whether the phenomenon is the direct cause of reported faults has never been firmly established. Many owners experience condensation build-up inside the cans with apparently no ill effects, and there haven't been waves of water-damaged units flooding the repair market. Apple's AirPods Max 2, launched in March this year, have the same ear cup design as the original model, and condensation has been reported in them as well.

The New York case is actually the second AirPods Max condensation class action to flounder. An earlier California case filed in February 2021 never reached the class-wide stage because the lead plaintiffs settled their individual claims with Apple and both parties moved to dismiss.

Notably, Apple has not conceded the headphones have an inherent defect in either case. In its California court filing, the company argued that moisture is more noticeable on AirPods Max simply because the ear cups are magnetic and removable, and pointed to its own guidance that the headphones "aren't waterproof or water resistant."
This article, "AirPods Max Condensation Lawsuit Largely Dismissed by NY Judge" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Maestral, the free lightweight open-source Dropbox client for Mac, has been retired, according to the project's maintainer, Sam Schott.


Over its seven-year life, Maestral has proven to be a popular client for users on platforms and file systems that are no longer directly supported by Dropbox. It has also been lauded for its simplicity, small app bundle size, and low memory usage compared to the official Dropbox app.

By cutting out Dropbox's client bloat, Maestral just runs silently in the background and syncs a local folder to Dropbox using the company's APIs. It also allows for configuring an unlimited number of Dropbox accounts, supports selective sync, and works on an unlimited number of devices – avoiding Dropbox's caps.

Schott, writing on the project's GitHub page:

As of 2026-07-28, this project is archived. It's been a fun challenge to develop a syncing client, but unfortunately, I find too little time to invest in Maestral these days. I've also moved away from using Dropbox myself.

Schott says Maestral will still remain usable in the medium term – i.e., for as long as its certificates are valid – but it will no longer be actively maintained or receive updates. Unless someone else forks the project and takes it over, unfortunately it will eventually stop working.
This article, "Free Dropbox Client Maestral Will Eventually Stop Working" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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Apple is reportedly working on a second-generation iPhone Air that's expected to launch in spring 2027, and one of Apple's main aims is to improve battery life. We now have the first rumor suggesting what kind of improvement could be coming.


In a post on Weibo listing supply chain predictions, serial leaker Digital Chat Station said the iPhone Air 2 is expected to feature a 3,500mAh battery. That's up from the 3,149mAh battery in the current iPhone Air, indicating around a 11% increase in raw capacity.

A larger battery capacity usually implies either a physically larger battery or a denser one, but it does not automatically mean a bigger phone. Apple may also be able to improve internal packaging to fit a larger battery in the same chassis. Either way, it's going to be another tight squeeze.

Multiple prior rumors have suggested Apple is adding a second camera to the ‌iPhone Air‌ to address the main customer complaint about the device. The current model has a single rear Wide lens, which makes it less versatile compared to the more affordable iPhone 17 in terms of photography. Reports suggest Apple will add an Ultra Wide lens to the iPhone Air 2 to address this.

Multiple technologies are housed in the plateau of the iPhone Air to maximize space for the battery, so Apple would presumably need to redesign the internals considerably to fit in another camera. Whether that will impact the battery packaging design remains to be seen.

The device will use an A20 chip built on Apple's new 2nm process, so it could feature better efficiency, which should help battery life regardless of any change in battery capacity. In addition, according to a separate report, Apple is said to be adopting a Samsung-made OLED technology called CoE (Color Filter on Encapsulation), which could make the iPhone Air 2's display thinner. That could allow Apple to slide in a slightly larger battery while retaining the same device dimensions.

The iPhone Air 2 is expected to launch in the first half of 2027, alongside the regular iPhone 18 and the lower-cost iPhone 18e.
This article, "iPhone Air 2 Could Get an 11% Battery Capacity Boost" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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