Your Apple AirPods Max's Active Noise Cancellation Not Working As Expected? An Ongoing Legal Battle May Be To Blame

Apple Inc. AAPL is facing a patent troll lawsuit that may be related to the recent reduction in active noise cancellation for AirPods Max. 

What Happened: In September 2021, a patent troll named "Jawbone Innovations" sued Apple after buying audio-related patents from the defunct Jawbone company. The Cupertino-based tech giant is facing allegations of violating these patents, according to Apple Insider. 

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Considering active lawsuits cannot be discussed with the public, Apple changed how active noise cancellation works in its devices without notice, the report stated, citing a Reddit user with the name facingcondor, who shared a range of evidence to support his thoery. 

There is no word about how the ongoing lawsuit affects the company. However, the Tim Cook-led company appears to be protecting itself from further damages related to the case by eliminating the violating features.

Apple did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comments. 

Why It's Important: Apple has released a few updates in 2021 and 2022 but hasn't given any reasons behind these in public. 

The company removed noise cancellation from the iPhone 13 microphone when it was released. In 2021, an update to AirPods Pro changed the ANC algorithm.

This year, AirPods Max was updated to change the ANC algorithm, making the noise cancellation even worse.

It is reasonable to assume that these updates are somewhat connected to the lawsuit, which is still underway, the report noted. 

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