Apple released the AirPods Pro last October, improving on the standard AirPods with features like active noise cancelation, water resistance and silicon tips. Apple is now tipped to be working on an AirPods Pro 2 with even better features, but a new leak suggests that the new earbuds might not be the upgrade you want.
The information comes from LeaksApplePro over on Twitter, who claims that the second-generation AirPods Pro will have better battery life, improved noise cancelling, ambient light sensors, and the same $249 price tag as the current AirPods Pro.
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AirPods Pro gen 2-249$-Better battery life-A bit better of noise cancelling.-Ambient light sensors.Overall, a not so great update, more of like the AirPods gen 2 over AirPods gen 1.Expect them to release in Q4 2021 or Q1 2022.October 19, 2020
If this leak is accurate, it means there isn’t a huge amount of difference between the two types of AirPods Pro. Better battery life and noise cancelling are always welcome though, especially when they don’t come with a price increase.
The light sensors are a bit of an odd choice, and it’s not clear what those are for. In the past it’s been rumoured that light sensors may appear in AirPods, possibly to track things such as your heart rate or other health statistics. It’s not beyond the realm of possibility, given Apple’s increased focus on health and fitness features in recent years, and we’ve already seen other wireless earbuds read heart rate using a similar method.
By adding fitness tracking into the AirPods it also means that the Apple Health app could more accurately track your workouts, especially if you’re not interested in buying an Apple Watch.
Other rumours claim the AirPods Pro 2 may come with air-gestures, though optical sensors wouldn’t be particularly effective in that capacity. If true, that suggests Apple has much grander plans for the future of AirPods, and a lot more functionality than this leak lets on.
Unfortunately this leak predicts a Q4 2021 or Q1 2022 release date, which means the AirPods Pro 2 are at least a year off. Apple's next big audio release will likely be the AirPods Studio, a set of premium over-ear headphones that could compete with the likes of Bose and Sony as soon as this fall.
