Apple Upgraded AirPods Pro with Better Sound, Better ANC and No Price Increase

Second-generation AirPods Pro improve audio quality, noise cancellation and battery life. Luckily, they keep the $249 price.

Author:
Jacob Krol
Publish date:
Sep 7, 2022

Jacob Krol/TheStreet

Second-generation AirPods Pro improve audio quality, noise cancellation and battery life. Luckily, they keep the $249 price.

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Alongside debuting the iPhone 14 family, Apple also unveiled the next generation of AirPods Pro at its Sept. 7 "Far Out" event. And here’s the best news, they're keeping the same $249.99 MSRP and adding in some new features.

Apple AirPods Pro Design Updates

You won’t find any major differences on the AirPods Pro themselves—Apple is sticking with the same design that includes a cushioned tip and a stem. But rather than just “Force Touch” on the stem, there is a touch sensor built in. You can squeeze to skip a track or engage a listening mode, like ANC (active noise cancelation) or Transparency, and you can slide to increase or decrease the volume.

AirPods Pro 2nd Gen in hand — Jacob Krol/TheStreet

The case features a few new cutouts as well. There’s a dedicated spot to attach a lanyard for easy accessorizing and a new speaker cutout to help you ping the case through FindMy. Apple also says that you’ll hear sound during the setup process.

AirPods Pro Battery Updates

Battery life got a boost. With the case fully charged, you can expect up to 30 hours of playback. The AirPods Pro themselves will last for up to six hours on a charge.

AirPods Pro Improvements

The real changes are under the hood and it starts with Apple’s new H2 chip. This handles all the processing on the device and finally supports higher-levels of Bluetooth audio. Apple’s also promising a 2x improvement with active noise cancelation.

While attending the "Far Out" event today, I got to quickly try these in the demo space, and it does a much better job of blocking out an abundance of noise across the spectrum (low, mid and high frequencies).

When it comes to the Transparency mode, it’s getting a lot smarter with an adaptive mode. This way as you’re walking the streets of a city with it engaged, it will lower loud booms from construction, but keep important sounds at a normal volume. It will make the feature a lot more usable.

And with a few quick samples of songs, the redesigned and upgraded driver and amplifier does improve the audio experience. There's a noticeable stronger base, but you can also have the EQ personalized to your ears. This way you’re getting the ultimate mix in your ears.

So final takeaway: AirPods Pro second-gen keeps a working design, but really upgrades every other aspect of the hardware.