The AirPods Max is facing further confusion regarding its power usage, with even more users upset as reports have emerged that the battery in Apple's noise-canceling headphones, which are supposed to be in power-saving mode, is running dry

On Reddit, Apple's support forums, and MacRumors forums, AirPods Max users have reported much more battery drain than expected, raising questions about the reliability of the Smart Case and the low-power mode it enables The reliability of the Smart Case and the low power mode it enables has been questioned

AirPods Max does not have a power button and cannot be manually turned off Instead, it enters a low-power mode when left in place for five minutes or docked in the included Smart Case

There is also an even more thrifty "ultra-low power" mode that activates after 18 hours of leaving the AirPods Max in the case, but even in standard power-saving mode, the headphones should only lose a few percent of their battery over a few hours

However, there are now numerous user reports of AirPods Max batteries running empty overnight or draining much faster than the low-power mode should allow While this is seemingly a mere bug affecting a relatively small number of owners, it is a very unfortunate glitch given that the AirPods Max has already baffled some users When the headphones were released last year, Apple's support page was even updated to explain the different battery-saving modes and missing power button

MacRumors user Broken Hope suggests that this excessive drain issue may be due to the AirPods Max not disconnecting properly from the source device when entering low power mode Hopefully, this issue is a software bug and not a permanent hardware problem that can be fixed with an update