Apple's AirPods Max launched five years ago today, marking the company's first push into the high-end over-ear headphones market under its own brand name. Rumors about Apple's work on a pair of high-end headphones, at the time believed to be called the "AirPods Studio," heated up throughout 2020. They were announced abruptly via a somewhat unexpected press release on December 8, 2020 and went on sale the same day.