AirPods Pro 2

AirPods Pro 2 or AirPods Pro 3?

AirPods Pro 3 took over as Apple’s current sealed pair, but Pro 2 keeps two small advantages: it lasts longer in total with its case, and each bud is a little lighter.

Spec	AirPods Pro 2	AirPods Pro 3
Ear tips	Silicone, four sizes (XS to L)	Foam-infused, five sizes (XXS to L)
Listening with ANC	Up to 6 hours	Up to 8 hours
With the case	Up to 30 hours	Up to 24 hours
Water and dust	IP54, buds and case	IP57
Hearing Test, Hearing Aid, Hearing Protection	Yes, added in firmware	Yes
Workout heart-rate sensor	No	Yes
Chip	H2	H2
Bud size	30.9 × 21.8 × 24.0 mm	30.9 × 19.2 × 27.0 mm
Bud weight	5.3 g	5.55 g

Pro 3’s gains are battery per charge, fit options, water resistance and the heart-rate sensor. The hearing features and the H2 chip are on both, so the choice comes down to price: Pro 2 makes sense when it’s clearly cheaper, or if you’d rather recharge the case less often. AirPods Pro 3 vs AirPods Pro 2 has the full comparison.

Hearing Test, Hearing Aid and Hearing Protection

Apple brought these to Pro 2 in a firmware update, so you don’t need Pro 3 to get them. Hearing Aid is FDA-authorized for people 18 and over with perceived mild-to-moderate hearing loss, and Loud Sound Reduction comes as part of the same set. You’ll need current firmware and an iPhone or iPad on iOS 18 or iPadOS 18 or later, or a Mac on macOS Sequoia or later.

For accessibility, Pro 2 also has Live Listen, Headphone levels, Headphone Accommodations and Conversation Boost.

Noise cancelling and sound

Apple calls it Pro-level Active Noise Cancellation and puts it at up to twice the noise cancelling of the first AirPods Pro and of AirPods 4 with ANC. Adaptive Audio blends noise cancelling and Transparency, Conversation Awareness lowers your media when you speak, and Personalized Volume is there too; Adaptive Audio and Conversation Awareness arrived with iOS 17.

Personalized Spatial Audio with head tracking uses a profile you make with an iPhone’s TrueDepth camera, and Voice Isolation is there for calls. Live Translation works with Pro 2 in beta, and the camera remote works on iOS 26 or iPadOS 26 or later.

Apple lists no codecs beyond the 256 kbps AAC it uses in battery tests, so don’t expect LDAC. AirPods Pro 2 vs Sony XM5 sets it against Sony’s earbuds.

Battery and charging

Mode	AirPods Pro 2 (USB-C)
Listening	Up to 6 hours
Spatial Audio with head tracking	Up to 5.5 hours
Lossless Audio with Apple Vision Pro	Up to 4 hours
With the case	Up to 30 hours
Quick charge	5 minutes in the case for about 1 hour

The USB-C case charges by cable, MagSafe, an Apple Watch charger or a Qi-certified pad, and a USB-C Charge Cable comes in the box. The 2022 Lightning case had the same MagSafe, Watch and Qi options, with a Lightning port instead.

Lightning or USB-C?

Version	Introduced	Bud models	Case model	Port
MagSafe Charging Case (Lightning)	2022	A2931, A2699, A2698	A2700	Lightning
MagSafe Charging Case (USB-C)	2023	A3047, A3048, A3049	A2968	USB-C

Look for these numbers on a used pair. Both versions are AirPods Pro 2 and both cases have the U1 chip, speaker and lanyard loop.

Upgrading from AirPods Pro (1st generation)

The buds are the same 30.9 × 21.8 × 24.0 mm, and Pro 2’s weigh 5.3 g against 5.4 g, so the fit carries over. Nearly everything else moves on:

• H2 instead of H1, and touch control in place of the force sensor.
• A fourth tip size, XS.
• Up to 6 hours per charge against 4.5, and 30 hours with the case against more than 24.
• IP54 for the buds and the case; the original’s buds were IPX4 and its case had no protection.
• A U1 chip, speaker and lanyard loop in the case.
• Hearing Test, Hearing Aid and Hearing Protection, which the 2019 model never got, plus Adaptive Audio, Conversation Awareness, Voice Isolation and Personalized Volume.

AirPods Pro 2 vs AirPods Pro (1st generation) covers the rest.

Price

AirPods Pro 2 launched in the US at $249 on 7 September 2022, and the USB-C version kept that price when Apple announced it on 12 September 2023. Engraving, AppleCare, education pricing and retailer discounts change what you actually pay, so check before you buy.