How AirPods Professional grew to become Apple’s best-selling headphones

Throughout its September “Glowtime” event, Appled shared an attention-grabbing truth: the AirPods Professional (2nd gen) are the corporate’s hottest and best-selling headphones. Possibly this wasn’t stunning to you, however it was astonishing to me.

Apple’s best-selling iPad is its entry-level $349 mannequin, and its best-selling pc has at all times been the bottom configuration of the MacBook Air. With worth being the first purpose these two merchandise are primary of their classes by gross sales, it felt secure to imagine AirPods 2 or 3 would’ve been the best-selling pair given their worth factors.

Nonetheless, it is nice to listen to AirPods Professional 2 are so common, a lot in order that I wished to take a look at how AirPods Professional grew to become Apple’s best-selling AirPods. Let’s unpack the lineup.

AirPods Professional (1st-generation)

Launched publicly in October 2019

The primary era AirPods Pro launched in October 2019 following lots of anticipation. Apple’s unique AirPods, launched in 2016, have been round three years previous by then, and shoppers have been enthusiastic about what the corporate would do subsequent with its really wi-fi headphones.

The AirPods Professional debuted as a redesign from the unique AirPods look. Whereas sustaining the white shade, the AirPods Professional changed tapping gestures with haptic buttons on a noticeably shorter stem. The AirPods Professional have been additionally way more bulbous than their non-pro counterpart.

After all, what made AirPods Professional stand out was their Lively Noise Cancelation (ANC), supported by new silicone ear ideas in small, medium, and huge sizes, offering a greater seal within the wearer’s ears. The AirPods Professional have been additionally the primary time we noticed Transparency Mode and water resistance in AirPods.

AirPods Professional (2nd-generation)

Launched publicly in September 2022

Simply shy of three years after the AirPods Professional’s launch, Apple unveiled AirPods Pro 2 in September 2022. This refresh introduced a brand new H2 chip, delivering higher audio high quality, improved ANC, and dramatically longer battery life. The inclusion of this new processor enabled adaptive transparency mode, personalised spatial audio, and listening time to extend by 1.5 hours from 4.5 hours to 6.

This was the 12 months Apple additionally considerably improved the charging case, making it waterproof just like the pods it saved. It additionally built-in precision discovering assist by incorporating a U1 chip. Moreover, if somebody misplaced their AirPods, they may play a sound emitting from a newly included speaker. Battery life for the included charging case elevated by six hours, going from 24 to 30 hours of whole listening time.

Moreover, the pods themselves obtained some welcome updates. The AirPods Professional 2 launched the flexibility to regulate quantity by sliding your finger up and down the stem of a pod. We additionally noticed the included ear ideas add an additional small dimension possibility along with the small, medium, and huge beforehand included.

Apple’s AirPods Professional at present

Extra options are coming later this 12 months

Circling again to Apple’s ‘It is Glowtime’ occasion, the corporate introduced three new well being options coming to AirPods Professional 2 later this 12 months. These options deal with enhancing an individual’s hearing experience.

There are three points to apples upcoming listening to well being options:

1. Prevention: AirPods Professional 2 helps to actively cut back loud environmental noise between the ANC powered by the H2 chip and the passive noise discount supplied by the silicone ear ideas.
2. Consciousness: AirPods Professional 2 will supply a scientifically validated Listening to Check characteristic with a suitable iPhone or iPad to empower folks to shortly and simply verify their listening to.
3. Help: AirPods Professional 2 will quickly be accessible as an over-the-counter hearing aid for customers with delicate to average listening to loss.

Whereas these new listening to options aren’t for me, at the very least not for now, it is nonetheless unbelievable to see Apple make such spectacular leaps with AirPods. Tim Prepare dinner, Apple’s CEO, has acknowledged on a couple of event that Apple’s most important contribution to the world might be in well being. For a very long time, we have seen that play out, most notably with the Apple Watch, supported by the iPhone; now, we’re seeing that story carry over to the AirPods Professional.

The story of how AirPods Professional grew to become Apple’s best-selling headphones is one in all steady iteration and enchancment. The AirPods maker makes use of its Professional line to showcase the perfect wi-fi headphones can supply, making it the go-to product for nerds, fans, and feature-focused shoppers alike. AirPods Professional will seemingly proceed to be the corporate’s best-selling headphones as they proceed to be industry-leading in options, type, and performance.