- AirPods, Apple's wireless Bluetooth earbuds, have become a must-have item for iPhone users of all ages, and particularly teens.
- Capitalizing on the popularity, high school student Aaron Beckman, 17, has created a 10-inch-tall Bluetooth speaker in the shape of an AirPod.
- Beckman's Reddit post showing off his giant AirPod speaker— which he dubbed the "AirPod Max"— has received nearly 80,000 upvotes since he shared it in early November.
- Beckman talked to Business Insider about how he created the AirPod, and shared some photos that show just how accurately the high schooler's AirPod mimics Apple's wireless earbuds.
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A 17-year-old high school student found himself with a viral Reddit hit on his hands when he built a giant Bluetooth speaker in the shape one of the hottest gadgets around: Apple's best-selling AirPods.
The 10-inch-tall AirPod is a fully functional wireless speaker, according to its creator, a Minnesota high school student named Aaron Beckman. Beckman posted a picture of his creation earlier this month on the r/MildlyInteresting Reddit thread, where it's since accrued more than 78,000 upvotes and 2,000 comments.
To make the AirPod speaker — which he's dubbed the "AirPod Max"— Beckman used a 3D printer, available through his high school's robotics team, to replicate and blow up an accurate clone of the AirPods.
Beckman shared these photos of his AirPod Max speaker, and told us a little about how he built it:
Beckman's AirPod design is incredibly faithful to the original.
His AirPod speaker includes even the smallest details of Apple's earbuds, from the small buttons and grooves, to the "L" that marks that it's for your left ear.
Aside from using a 3D printer to construct the AirPods speaker surface model, Beckman used paint to draw on the "L" and black dots, and window screen to create the mesh look of the speaker inside the AirPod.
Beckman also assembled the electronics to make his giant AirPod a functional speaker. Next, he plans to build a matching right-ear AirPod Max, so he can get stereo sound.
Like any functional Bluetooth speaker, Beckman built in a charging port that allows him to re-power the battery after use. Beckman told Business Insider that from design to completion, his AirPod speaker took around 22 hours to complete.
