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Samuel Axon and Corey Gaskin - Sep 7, 2022 5:49 pm UTC

CUPERTINO, Calif.—The first major update to Apple's AirPods Pro in-ear headphones are on the way, and they'll bring better noise canceling, personalized sound-staging, and 33 percent longer battery life, the company says.

The earbuds look exactly the same as their predecessors, but they offer some improvements nonetheless. The new H2 chip facilitates enhanced noise cancellation that Apple says is twice as powerful as the previous AirPods Pro. A new adaptive transparency mode can also offer more dynamic tuning to drown out louder things like vehicles or concerts. Personalized spatial audio will also help listeners tune the sound to their ears. Using the iPhone's front-facing TrueDepth camera, listeners can create spatial sound profiles based on the shape of their ears and head.

Things should also sound cleaner across the range of pitches with a new "low-distortion" driver and "custom" amplifier that Apple says will improve bass response and clarity at higher pitches. Lastly, on the audio front, voices should be clearer in calls and through transparency modes thanks to Conversation Boost. There will also be smaller silicone tips to fit a wider range of people.

Along the stem of the pods are new touch controls. In addition to the squeeze controls that can pause and play music or accept phone calls, swiping along the stem can also change the volume.

The charging case itself has also been upgraded, gaining IPX4 water and sweat resistance, a lanyard loop, and a speaker for charging indication chirps and Find My features in case you misplace the case. You can also now use an Apple Watch charger, MagSafe charger, or any Qi-enabled wireless charging pad to juice up the new case, in addition to the traditional lightning cable. Speaking of battery, the AirPods Pro will offer six hours of listening, while the charging case holds another 30 hours of life, or four full charges. That's about 90 minutes longer listening time on the AirPods Pro and six hours more capacity in the case compared to the original AirPods Pro.

The new AirPods Pro will be available to order on September 9 for $249 and ship on September 23.

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