A federal judge has dismissed most claims in a proposed class-action lawsuit accusing Apple’s AirPods Max of a condensation defect, ruling that the $549 earbuds do what they were built to do even if they don’t meet the buyer’s expectations (via Law360).
Filed in April 2025 by two plaintiffs, the suit alleges that condensation builds up inside the AirPods Max earbuds during normal indoor use, which can degrade sound, interrupt 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 and AppleCare+ headphones through the Apple website. After receiving and using his AirPods Max, plaintiff Arthur Apicella “noticed excessive condensation in his AirPods Max earbuds while he was watching a movie,” and his AirPods Max “generated condensation in the earbuds 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 and AppleCare headphones. Shortly after purchasing them, plaintiff Amundson “noticed excessive condensation in his AirPods Max earbuds while performing daily tasks, indoors, at home,” and they “generate condensation in the earbuds every time he uses them.”
The plaintiffs allege that they “are unable to use their AirPods Max to enjoy ‘exhilarating high-fidelity audio’…or the supposed ‘spatial audio with dynamic head tracking (giving them) a cinema-like experience for movies and shows, with sound that surrounds (them)’.” “inability to maintain battery charge” for the advertised 20 hours.
Both plaintiffs claim that Apple knew about the problem as early as 2018, but remained silent.
However, in an order issued Monday, Judge Orelia E. Merchant of the Eastern District of New York dismissed with prejudice any claim filed under New York law. She found that the state’s implied warranty of merchantability requires only that a product meet “a minimum level of quality,” not that it must be perfect. She also noted that one plaintiff successfully used their AirPods Max to watch a movie.
The New York resident has been removed from the case entirely, while the Washington state resident can still file two lawsuits under Washington law and the federal Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.
The condensation phenomenon of AirPods Max is quite well known at this point. Condensation frequently forms where warm body heat meets the cooler aluminum ear cups. Owners began reporting condensation shortly after the earbuds launched in December 2020. By 2023, the issue was sometimes referred to as “death by condensation” following reports that some earbuds had stopped working due to fluid buildup.
It has never been clearly established whether this phenomenon is the direct cause of the reported defects. Many homeowners experience condensation buildup inside canisters with seemingly no ill effects, and there have been no waves of water-damaged units flooding the repair market. Apple’s AirPods Max 2, launched in March this year, have the same earcup design as the original model, and condensation has also been reported on them.
The New York case is actually the second AirPods Max condensation class action lawsuit to fail. A previous California case filed in February 2021 never reached the full class-action stage because the lead plaintiffs settled their individual claims with Apple and both sides moved to dismiss them.
Notably, Apple did not admit that the headphones had an inherent defect in either case. In its California court filing, the company argued that moisture is more visible on the AirPods Max simply because the earbuds are magnetic and removable, and pointed to its own guidelines that the earbuds “are neither waterproof nor water-resistant.”
