Apple Introduces the All New AirPods Pro 2 With Up To 2x Better Active Noise Cancellation

Apple has just announced its second iteration of the AirPods Pro, with several changes under the hood. Contrary to rumors, the new AirPods Pro 2 retain the classic stem design and the case is largely the same in the cosmetic department. It now features a speaker grill on the bottom to help locate it at the tap of a button through Find My. There’s a loop hook on the side to attach a lanyard as well. Both of these features combine to help you keep track of your AirPods better.

More excitingly, you can finally use a MagSafe charger, or any other Qi-certified mat to charge your AirPods Pro 2, as the device now supports wireless charging. If you don’t fancy that, there’s also the standard Lightning port for charging the case, no USB-C unfortunately.

Moving to the earbuds themselves, the stems now have a capacitive surface for touch controls.  Swiping up or down controls the volume, and you can even press the stem to change your music, pick up calls and more. The improved skin-detection sensor also ensures there are no accidental touches. Apple is also throwing in new “XS” (extra small) size eartips for a more accessible fit.

As for the feature list, it’s jam packed. The all new H2 chip drives all the upgrades—the first update to AirPods silicon since their introduction. This chip supports Bluetooth 5.3, and is expected to support the LC3 codec, which is likely given the new Bluetooth standard has several enhancements to improve reliability and energy usage. The LC3 codec offers a more stable connection with significantly lower power consumption. This contributes to the increased battery timings of the AirPods Pro 2, now rated for up to 6 hours of playback time with ANC on, and 30 without it.

Apple is also updating spatial audio, with ‘Personalized Spatial audio‘ where users can use their iPhone’s true-depth camera system to map their ears, helping deliver a personalized listening experience. The H2 chip further optimizes active noise cancellation, and according to Apple the new AirPods Pro 2 offer 2x the noise cancellation compared to the older AirPods Pro. 

Even the transparency mode is updated with Apple introducing the all new ‘Adaptive Transparency Mode‘. With the help of the powerful H2 chip, the new AirPods Pro can use on-device processing to reduce loud environmental noises, like sirens and construction tools so that only the sound that matters, gets in. The earbuds house improved low-distortion audio drivers, as well, for better audio quality all around. 

The new AirPods Pro deliver even better sound quality, a more immersive listening experience with Personalized Spatial Audio, and transformative audio features like Adaptive Transparency. With up to double the noise-cancelling power of their predecessor, the world’s bestselling wireless headphones just got even better.

– Bob Borchers, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing

The biggest feature missing here is lossless audio support. Many leaks pointed towards Apple being the first to offer lossless audio over a wireless connection, but it always sounded too good to be true. And so, it isn’t. We also didn’t see a switch to USB Type-C despite many rumors suggestion so.

That being said, good guy Apple has decided to retain last-gen’s pricing as the AirPods Pro 2 will retail for $249 USD, and will be for pre-order starting September 9th, with in-store sales and general availability starting from 23rd September. 

This story has been updated with the latest info.