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Tech giant Apple has unveiled a set of over-the-ear wireless headphones sporting an eye-popping $549 price tag, raising eyebrows among even the most ardent Mac fanboys.

Apple has begun taking pre-orders for its new AirPods Max headphones, which officially go on sale next Tuesday. The $549 noise-canceling headset comes in five colors, can be used to answer calls as well as listen to music, and is compatible with Apple’s Siri voice assistant – but even the biggest Apple fetishists had trouble getting over that price tag.

Social media users groaned in anticipation that the overpriced headphones would not only be bestsellers, but that they would inspire other headphone makers to slap similarly silly price tags on their products. “Apple knows its customers are headless chickens, they don’t care,” one user remarked.

It baffles me how Apple is able to drive the consumer price up for everything & set the tone for the e tire industry.They come out w/ a $1,000+ phone & now that’s the norm.They create $200 ear buds & now everyone wants the@.Now they’re launching $550 over-ear headphones.

There are two sets of reactions about the AirPods Max:1. These are too expensive. Apple is crazy no one will buy them. 2. Everyone will buy them. All other brands are dead. The truth is right in between those two extremes.

Some joked that wearing the absurdly expensive headphones (or even carrying them around in the special case they ship with) would be the equivalent of placing a neon “rob me” sign on one’s forehead.

it’s great you can carry Apple’s new $550 headphones around in their little case that screams “ROB ME” pic.twitter.com/WN0uimZjuy

One user commented that for $549, whoever wears the headphones had “better be able to hear god,” while others called attention to the pointlessness of listening to low-quality streaming music over high-end headphones.

Several observed that for the price of one set of wireless headphones, a person could buy an entire computer, a Playstation 5 – or a bunch of Apple stock.

Apparently not an April Fools’ joke. Headphones at the same cost as a very decent laptop. ? https://t.co/Hq7tVyoL3d

To put it into perspective, Apple’s new headphones, the AirPods Max cost the same as a PS5 pic.twitter.com/2yVrE7BPJT

I can think of many ways @Apple to spend almost $900??, and in each thought not once did I ever think- “I should probably buy $900 headphones, what a great investment!”I am better off buying 5-6 shares of $AAPLNo I won’t be buying #AirPodsMax anytime never! pic.twitter.com/qqB7JlHiil

Many mocked the Mac cultists who would not think twice about shelling out $549 for a pair of headphones.

550 yeah okay ???? you can buy good ass headphones for 100-200 dollars apple is just testing how stupid their customer base is

I may be dumb, but not buy $550 Apple headphones dumb.

I’m just happy they didn’t decide to sell each earpiece separately,” one user joked, perhaps giving Apple an idea for its next headphone release. 

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