FCC filing – A Federal Communications Commission filing dated May 5, 2026 lists Apple as testing a pair of unreleased Bluetooth over-ear headphones. But the details also point more toward Beats than AirPods Max, leaving the exact launch plan—and product family—unclear.
A Federal Communications Commission filing dated May 5, 2026 quietly surfaced a piece of Apple’s next personal-audio puzzle: a pair of “Bluetooth over-ear headphones” that are still unreleased.
The filing, found and flagged by Aaronp613 and spotted by MacRumors on Friday, identifies Apple as the company behind the tested product. It doesn’t say when the headphones will go on sale. It simply shows that the device made it through early regulatory testing steps before a launch.
What’s on paper is specific enough to confirm the basics. The report lists an Apple product number of A3577. an FCC ID of BCGA3577. and includes an image showing where the FCC ID would appear on an earcup. The over-ear design and the fact that it uses Bluetooth are the strongest tells in the submission.
But the filing also exposes the frustration that comes with regulatory breadcrumbs: confirmation of testing doesn’t equal clarity about identity. The Apple product number A3577 doesn’t line up with the AirPods Max line in any obvious way. AirPods Max 2 carries product number A3454. while earlier AirPods Max models were A2096 and A3184—depending on whether the earlier versions used Lightning or USB-C.
Even the included diagram doesn’t narrow things further. It’s described as a simple schematic, without enough visual detail to pin the headphones to a particular product style just by looking.
That’s where the pressure point in the story shifts. If Apple is preparing additional over-ear headphones for its AirPods Max lineup, there are currently no rumors circulating about such a device. The filing can confirm testing, but it doesn’t connect cleanly to what the market already expects.
A more plausible path is that these headphones may land under Apple’s Beats brand instead. The most recent Beats headphone release mentioned in the filing coverage was the Solo 4 in April 2024. Other Beats headphones in the lineup—specifically the Beats Studio Pro—were released in July 2023. making that model about three years old.
The idea isn’t that Apple must be ready to launch a totally new Beats product line. It’s that an update to an existing, older one would fit the timing better. The most likely candidate, based on what’s already been shipping, is the Beats Studio Pro.
If Apple is working on other over-ear headphones meant to sit alongside AirPods Max 2, that remains possible. But with no supporting rumors and with the product-number mismatch lingering, the filing’s clues point harder toward Beats than the AirPods Max family.
Apple FCC filing over-ear headphones Bluetooth headphones Beats AirPods Max Beats Studio Pro Solo 4 A3577 BCGA3577 A3454