Apple held three unveiling events this fall to hype its hardware and get all the fanboys excited for the holidays. And apparently it’s not done droppin’ products.
On Tuesday, the company rolled out its very, very expensive over-ear AirPods Max and announced a launch date for its Fitness+ subscription fitness service.
Let’s take a look at those headphones first…
The AirPods Max cost a gut-wrenching 550 bucks. *Cue spit-take. That’s more than an entire iPhone SE ($400). It’s also far more than top-of-line rivals like Bose Noise-Cancelling Headphones 700 ($339) or Beats Studio 3 ($349). To put it even more in perspective, they cost the same as a PlayStation 5, a roundtrip flight from New York to LA in the Before Times, two mid-range Roombas, half a Peloton bike, or 36 pairs of Bombas socks. For $550 you could buy 4.5 Apple shares, or almost one Tesla share… You get the idea. What you get with AirPods Max: The wireless headset comes with noise cancellation and built-in Siri capabilities, and Apple promises about 20 hours of battery life before a recharge. My colleague Samantha Murphy Kelly has the details.
Apple also announced a launch date for Fitness+, which is bad news for Peloton. The announcement sent Peloton shares briefly down 2% in early trading.
Here’s why:
- Peloton, with its sleek bikes and treadmills, has been, shall we say, the Apple of the home gym sector — it peddles high-end lifestyle gadgets to a devoted, almost cult-like fan base.
- Peloton became a huge winner in the pandemic as people splurged on home fitness equipment when gyms shut down. But it has to prove it can keep growing once gyms reopen and people are less tethered to their homes.
- Now the relatively young fitness brand has to compete with Apple, literally the world’s most valuable company, as it offers a competitively priced service minus the high cost of entry that is the Peloton bike (the cheapest of which will cost you two AirPod Maxes). Kaya Yurieff has more.
