Apple's $549 AirPods Max are already sold out for this year

Apple's freshly-announced wireless headphones, the AirPods Max, are one of the priciest around. And yet, judging by the shipping times on Apple's online stores, they're selling like hotcakes.

At the time of writing, the headphones ship in 12–⁠14 weeks in the U.S., no matter which color you choose. That means there's no chance of getting these in time for Christmas — in fact, you'll be lucky to get them before March, even if you order right now.

The AirPods Max are pretty much sold out in the U.S. Credit: apple

The situation is a little better in the UK, where most models ship in three weeks. In Australia, most models ship in five to six weeks; the only color that ships in three weeks is Silver.

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Oddly enough, the AirPods Max ship a lot faster if you add an engraving; in the U.S., the shipping time for most models drops to six to seven weeks. In the UK and Australia, though, this trick doesn't work.

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It's hard to say whether this is because the headphones are selling really well or Apple's stock is just very limited, but it certainly looks good, given the AirPods Max's $549 price. Competing products with similar features are a lot cheaper; for comparison, Sony's WH-1000XM4 cost $279.99, Bose's QuietComfort 35 II are $269.95, and B&W's PX7 cost $340.