During tonight’s Far Out event, Apple finally unveiled the 2nd generation AirPods Pro, the long-awaited follow-up to its massively successful wireless earbuds launched back in 2019. Rather than radically changing it, the tech giant instead updated the device with many welcome features while maintaining its original design.
Visually speaking, the new AirPods Pro looks pretty identical to its predecessor, but the case now has speakers at the bottom and a loop on the side for users to attach a lanyard. Excitingly, the stems on the AirPods Pro 2 keep the force touch controls but adds touch controls to allow for volume control — a navigation feature that was notably missing from the previous Pro model.
The speakers, as well as each individual AirPod, enhance the Find My feature by playing a noise so you can find it more easily when lost. The case, rated at IPX4 sweat and water resistance, is also equipped with a U1 chip for precision tracking and brings along support for the Apple Watch charger as one of the options for charging – alongside the Lightning port, MagSafe, or a Qi wireless charger.
The biggest upgrade is in the internals of the AirPods Pro 2, with the new H2 chip which enables them to cancel out twice as much noise as the original device. The earbuds also have an adaptive transparency mode and offers a personalised spatial audio experience that adapts to the size and shape of the user’s head and ears. Despite earlier predictions by analysts, the 2nd gen still does not support any lossless audio format.
The battery life gets a modest improvement from 4.5 hours to six hours on a single charge and up to a total of 30 hours with the charging case. Additionally, the wireless earbuds get Bluetooth 5.3, an improved skin-detect sensor, and an extra pair of XS ear tips.
The 2nd gen AirPods Pro are priced at RM1,099 on Apple Malaysia’s website, which is the same price as the original earbuds when it first came out. Unfortunately though, the company has not yet announced the local availability for the new product, telling consumers to “check back later”.
(Source: Apple)
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