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AirPods Pro 2: Five New Features and Improvements to Expect
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Okay, sure. Let’s do that. That’s still not really a compelling argument for why I should be passing all device audio through an additional layer of lossy transcoding though.
A 1980’s Sony discman was able to provide lossless 16/44.1 audio over whatever headphones you wanted, even cheap little earbuds if that’s what you plugged in. Why is the 2020’s equivalent to this technically inferior?
I am not going to accept a wireless replacement for the perfectly functional wired technology we had for decades until it’s functionally equivalent in performance, or better. Not worse. Whether you, me, or anyone else can perceive that difference in performance is irrelevant. If this is truly a technological step forward that is worthy of replacing what came before, this difference in performance shouldn’t exist.
Yeah I went back to wired headphones because of this. Nice to not have to charge them either. Plus buttons to play pause skip and control volume.
If they could add all that in to the wireless buds then sure…
Apple sure is brilliant with their marketing for these little plastic things that sell for over $200. The H2 chip! Oh my! I think I better hold out for the H3. Probably cost less than $15 to manufacture.
And yeah, I prefer wired headphones, because there certainly is a difference.
And yeah, I prefer wired headphones, because there certainly is a difference.
I use MagSafe charging so I don't care much about the connector.
Having said that, Apple should just offer a choice, just as it offered Lightning charger and Lightning + Wireless charger options with AirPods 2.
Apple's second-generation AirPods Pro are finally nearing launch, with a release expected later this year. If you are considering upgrading to the new AirPods Pro once they are released, keep reading for a list of five new features to expect.
In addition to all-new features, the second-generation AirPods Pro will likely adopt some features added to the standard AirPods last year.
H2 Chip
The new AirPods Pro will feature a "significantly upgraded" wireless chip compared to the H1 chip in the original AirPods Pro, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. The new chip could be branded as an "H2 chip" given the improvements.
Kuo did not elaborate on what benefits the new chip would provide, but given that the H1 chip powers audio-related functions, the upgraded chip in the second-generation AirPods Pro could result in improvements to sound quality, latency, active noise cancellation, Transparency mode, features powered by Siri, and more.
The upgraded chip could also enable Apple Lossless audio support.
Longer Battery Life
While there haven't been any firm rumors about the new AirPods Pro featuring longer battery life, it's reasonable to expect improvements in this area given that nearly three years have passed since the original AirPods Pro launched.
Apple's standard third-generation AirPods released last year provide up to six hours of listening time per charge, compared to up to 4.5 hours for the current AirPods Pro. Even with active noise cancellation and Transparency mode turned off, the AirPods Pro last up to five hours per charge, which is still less than the third-generation AirPods.
Charging Case Enhancements
The charging case for the new AirPods Pro will be able to emit a sound, making it easier to locate the case when it is lost, according to Kuo. AirPods Pro can already be tracked via the Find My app on an iPhone, but the charging case cannot play a sound.
It's also likely the new AirPods Pro charging case will have IPX4-rated water and sweat resistance like the charging case for the third-generation AirPods. Currently, only the AirPods Pro earbuds have water resistance and not the case.
The charging case is expected to stick with Lightning before switching to USB-C in 2023.
Improved In-Ear Detection
Yet another feature that the next AirPods Pro will likely adopt from the third-generation AirPods is a skin-detect sensor for more accurate in-ear detection compared to the dual optical sensors in the original AirPods Pro.
Apple says the skin-detect sensor "accurately discerns if AirPods are in the ear — versus in a pocket or on a table — and pauses playback when removed."
Fitness Tracking
In May 2021, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and Debby Wu reported that the second-generation AirPods Pro would include "updated motion sensors with a focus on fitness tracking," but the report did not provide any further details about the feature.
AirPods Pro are already equipped with a motion-detecting accelerometer, and it's possible that improvements to this sensor would allow for some fitness tracking capabilities, but Apple's exact plans remain to be seen. On a potentially related note, iOS 16 allows the Fitness app to be used on an iPhone without an Apple Watch.
Design and Release Date
Back in 2020, Gurman and Wu reported that Apple had tested a more compact design for the new AirPods Pro that would eliminate the stems below the earbuds, similar to Beats Studio Buds. However, more recent rumors suggest that the second-generation AirPods Pro will not have any significant outward-facing design changes.
AirPods Pro were introduced with an Apple Newsroom press release on October 28, 2019 and launched two days later. The new AirPods Pro are expected to launch by the end of 2022, with September or October the two most likely months for the headphones to be released. AirPods Pro are currently priced at $249 in the United States, although they are frequently discounted by resellers like Amazon and Best Buy.
Article Link: AirPods Pro 2: Five New Features and Improvements to Expect
How does anyone buy these with such short battery life? They wouldn’t make it through a day for me…
Interested in what this means for the AirPods Max moving forward.
Tomorrow is the end of my return window for my Maxes and im still on the fence. I like a lot about them but the hi frequency response has a major dip that throws me out. Reading the APP2 rumors of possible upgrades to the audio, im wondering if I should wait for the next gen and see how that pans out. hmm
Tomorrow is the end of my return window for my Maxes and im still on the fence. I like a lot about them but the hi frequency response has a major dip that throws me out. Reading the APP2 rumors of possible upgrades to the audio, im wondering if I should wait for the next gen and see how that pans out. hmm
I hope they work better with my android privacy phone. I gave up the iPhone and iWatch because of the 24/7 spying that Apple conducts.
I guess I am in that rather large group of "love/hate" Apple community. For me, I use the 2nd gen regular airpods because of their shape. I cannot use 3rd gen though they do sound a bit better. If I am going to have true "in ear" or "in canal" headset, I would like the real deal as in lossless. For now, I do audio books, phone, and background music and leave the real headset for serious music listening and movies.
I just hope they keep only releasing them in white, you know, to match my black iPhone and black iPad.
Tim Apple crunched the numbers and chances are good they’ll be white.
Tim Apple crunched the numbers and chances are good they’ll be white.
100+ million AirPods going into a landfill every year. No one seems to care (well the WAPost did an article recently re: this level of waste.) Seriously, if you love AirPods you have a heck of a lot of rationalization going on if you care about Mother Earth. Yeah it is a complete disaster, but they are super convenient, etc. Flame away AppleStans.
If they were to implement this, do you really expect there to be any discernible difference?
Is this when they release a new wireless protocol to surpass Bluetooth? H2 connects to U1 chips in existing devices? Lossless, "zero" latency?
And there certainly is a completely different use case.
If you want to sit and listen to music, then get your headphones.
I use my AirPods when I am out of the house or overwise moving around, at the gym, walking. All places where I would never want over the hear headphones.
I can't tell the difference either until it's very loud on an actual speaker system and the lossless is clean and pure at high volume as opposed to the lower quality version.
Now ... I can definitely tell a difference in good quality headphones over bad ones, but that has nothing to do with audio quality.
Are you listening all day long? Without breaks?
It only take about 5 minutes in the case to recharge them for another hour. They recharge pretty fully very quickly. Do you never take a break from listening? I’m not sure that is good for your ears.
Sure, it would be nice to get longer battery life but that is way down the list of priorities. Plus they are likely to get better battery life in the new versions.
do you every use anything that you throw away? Then that likely adds up to a lot more stuff thrown in the landfill that Airpods. Airpods are a very small amount of material, mostly plastic. There is a very good chance that you are already throwing out a lot more already.
Sure, it would be great is there was a way to effectivly recycle them and maybe Apple does some when they take them back but realistically, there are much bigger issues to deal with.
3 sets of AirPod pros. All 3 sets developed a sound like a blown speaker. All 3 replaced by Apple. Now 2 sets sound blown.
I’d just like a more resilient set of airpods.
I’d just like a more resilient set of airpods.
Yes to some, not for all. Anyone should be able to have the choice between prioritizing battery life or sound quality, and the ability to make those decisions for themselves based on their own capabilities and preferences.
I've only had to have mine repaired once in several years. That's very unfortunate and annoying.
I’m all for giving people the option. I’ve just never seen any evidence that anyone can actually discern a difference with lossless formats. I do understand that when music is remastered for lossless they often clean things up and improve mix, but that would be available for lossless or lossy.