which is the better buy?
Apple launched the much-awaited successor to the original AirPods Pro this year during its ‘Far Out’ launch event earlier this week. The AirPods Pro (2nd gen) earbuds come with new features and some design changes but are offered at a comparable price to the launch price of the original AirPods Pro.
| AirPods Pro 2 | AirPods Pro | AirPods 3 | AirPods 2 | |
| Active noise cancellation |  – 2x more than orig. AirPods Pro |
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| Adaptive transparency mode | |
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| Transparency mode | – | |
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| Adaptive EQ | |
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| Personalized Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking | |
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| IPX4 sweat and water resistant (buds and case) | |
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| Hey Siri support | |
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| Automatic switching | |
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| MagSafe charging case | – | |
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| MagSafe charging case with Find My support, speaker, and lanyard loop | |
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| Battery on a single charge | Up to 6 hours | Up to 5 hours | Up to 6 hours | Up to 5 hours |
| Talk time on a single charge | Up to 4.5 hours | Up to 3.5 hours | Up to 4 hours | Up to 3 hours |
| Battery with charging case | Up to 30 hours | 24+ hours | Up to 30 hours | Up to 24 hours |
| 5 min. charge = | ~1-hour use | ~1-hour use | ~1-hour use | ~1-hour use |
| Speaker and Lanyard loop built into charging case | |
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| MagSafe charging case | |
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| Charge with MagSafe, Apple Watch puck, Qi, or Lightning | , , , |
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| H2 chip | |
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| H1 chip | – | |
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| U1 chip in charging case | |
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| Bluetooth | 5.3 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Dual beamforming mics | |
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| Inward-facing mic | |
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| Touch control (force + swipe) | |
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| Force sensor | – | |
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| Orig. touch control (taps) | – | – | – | |
| Skin-detect sensor | |
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| Dual optical sensors | – | |
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| Motion-detecting accelerometer | |
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| Speech-detecting accelerometer | |
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| Custom high-excursion Apple driver | |
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| Custom high dynamic range amplifier | |
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| Vent system for pressure equalization | |
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| Fit | In-ear (4 silicone tip sizes included) | In-ear (3 silicone tip sizes included) | Outer-ear/universal fit | Outer-ear/universal fit |
| Height | 1.22 in (30.9 mm) | 1.22 in (30.9 mm) | 1.21 in ( 30.79 mm) | 1.59 in (40.5 mm) |
| Width | 0.86 in (21.8 mm) | 0.86 in (21.8 mm) | 0.72 in (18.26 mm) | 0.65 in (16.5 mm) |
| Depth | 0.94 inch (24 mm) | 0.94 inch (24 mm) | 0.76 in (19.21 mm) | 0.71 in (18 mm) |
| Weight | 0.19 oz (5.3 g) | 0.19 oz (5.4 g) | 0.15 oz (4.28 g) | 0.14 oz (4 g) |
| Price | $249 | $193 | $169 | $129 |
