We’re spoiled for choice when it comes togreat earbuds. Legacy audio outfits like Bose and Sennheiser, not to mention pretty much every company that makes Android phones offer compelling options. But while many individual manufacturers make buds that work best with their own phones, Apple takes it a step further with AirPods, which are made expressly to be used with iPhones, iPads, and Macs.
It’s technically possible to use Apple’s newest buds, the second-generation AirPods Pro, with Android phones; for a select few users, it might even make sense. But as great as the AirPods Pro are for those firmly established in Apple’s ecosystem, for everyone else, they’re probably more trouble than they’re worth.
Apple AirPods Pro (2nd generation)
Apple’s second-generation AirPods Pro are fantastic earbuds — if you spend all or most of your time using other Apple devices. On Android, the earbuds still offer strong audio quality, thorough ANC, and a comfortable fit. Still, most of what makes AirPods a great option for Apple users is exclusive to Apple’s ecosystem. If you spend time in both pools, you might still find the second-gen AirPods Pro a compelling option, but folks without an iPhone, an iPad, or a Mac computer won’t have a good experience.
Price and availability
The second-generation Apple AirPods Pro retail for $249, but they’re frequently available for a little less, with sales historically bringing their price tag down to $199 or so every few weeks. You can get them pretty much anywhere that sells electronics, including Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, Target, B&H, and others, as well as direct from Apple. They’re only available in white, but Apple offers free engraving on the AirPods Pro’s case.
Design and hardware
The AirPods Pro sport the same iconic stem-style look as previous pairs of AirPods, an aesthetic manufacturers like OnePlus and Nothing borrow from fairly liberally in some of their true wireless offerings. The buds have a sleek, almost plain look, with gentle curves and no visible branding to speak of.
Like in the first-generation AirPods Pro and the third-gen standard AirPods, the stem that extends from the bud toward your mouth is stubby — just large enough to grip with your thumb and forefinger. They’re still more conspicuous than earbuds with no stem at all, but it’s not a distracting look. AirPods Pro come with several different sizes of silicone tips that help create a better seal than non-Pro AirPods' one-size-fits-most hard plastic design.
You control the AirPods Pro by squeezing their stems. One squeeze on either bud is play/pause, two skips forward, and three skips back — a long squeeze swaps between ANC modes. A touch-sensitive strip on the front of each stem lets you adjust the volume by swiping. I’m really coming to like this kind of squeeze control, both here and on other earbuds that offer it, like theOnePlus Buds Pro 2.
The AirPods Pro’s squat case is about two and a half inches wide and just under two inches tall, and with rounded edges, it’s very easy to slip in and out of pockets. The lid is held shut with some reassuringly strong magnets, but they’re not quite powerful enough to keep the earbuds inside their case if you drop it (as I learned from experience).
There’s an anchor point for a lanyard on the right edge of the case (a unique touch) and a pairing button for non-Apple devices on the back. At the bottom of the case, a tiny speaker is built in — more on that in a bit — and a Lightning charging port. Annoying as that is for anyone not living full-time in Apple country, the case also supports wireless charging. I haven’t had to touch a Lightning cable at any point using the AirPods Pro.
Audio and ANC
The second-generation AirPods Pro are the default choice for many Apple fans, not just because of brand loyalty. These things produce excellent audio. The sound here is full, emphasizing low-end response: bass-heavy genres like hip-hop and house music thump along with satisfying richness.
Content less reliant on bass and sub-bass (jazz, jangly indie rock, podcasts, etc.) sounds great, too, with good detail and some really bright treble. But, like many other consumer-grade earbuds, the AirPods Pro prioritize the kind of warm, bouncy sound that lends itself well to pop music. I think that’s great — if I’m wearing earbuds, I’m probably doing something else while listening. In that context, I value an enjoyable listening experience more than a clinically accurate one. However, there’s only support for SBC and AAC codecs if that matters to you.
Outside futzing with iOS’s accessibility settings or individual streaming apps' EQ options, there’s no way to adjust the AirPods Pro’s sound signature manually. Connected to an Apple device, the second-gen AirPods Pro can dynamically tune their equalizer settings to provide a consistent sound across different volume levels — Google’s Pixel Buds Pro perform a similar trick. It’s subtle, but it does help media sound a little better at especially quiet or loud volumes. However, this feature doesn’t apply when the buds are connected to non-Apple gadgets like Android phones or Windows PCs.
Noise-canceling performance is quite good; tested in a bustling coffee shop, the second-gen AirPods Pro were able to dampen the noise around me well enough that I could hear my music clearly at medium volume, which is typically all I’m looking for in earbud ANC. Comparing Apple’s earbuds directly with theGoogle Pixel Buds Proand theBose QuietComfort Earbuds II, I’d peg ANC performance somewhere between the two — closer to the Bose buds, which is saying something. Hums like domestic HVAC disappear entirely; clattering dishes and loud conversations are dampened but still very audible without media playing.
Call performance is fine. Listening to recordings taken on the same three pairs of earbuds in the same environment, Apple’s earbuds did an okay job picking my voice out from significant background noise, though some of my words came through as garbled and were hard to make out. But the environment I tested in was very loud, and of course, the quieter the setting, the clearer your voice will be on the other end of the call. For video meetings or phone calls from a more controlled environment, the AirPods Pro are great.
Features and software
Inside Apple’s ecosystem, the AirPods Pro are a joy to use. Pairing is a breeze: just open the buds' case near your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, and with a couple of taps, you’re set to use the AirPods Pro with any Apple device you’re signed into. There’s no multipoint connectivity, but the earbuds do a remarkably good job of knowing which device they should be connected to at any given time, so you’ll rarely have to fiddle with settings menus to get the right audio source.
Using the AirPods Pro with devices not made by Apple is still possible, but not nearly as practical or pleasant. They’re easy to pair with an Android phone: press and hold the pairing button on their case and select them in your device’s Bluetooth settings, like any old earbuds. But there’s no dynamic equalizer adjustment the way there is when the earbuds are paired to a Mac or iPhone, and the earbuds aren’t able to automatically switch which device they’re connected to.
Worst of all for full-time Android users, though, is that you can’t update the AirPods Pro’s firmware without pairing them to another Apple device. I don’t mean it’s difficult; it’s actually impossible. AirPods update their firmware automatically, butonlywhen connected to an iPhone, an iPad, or a Mac. If you don’t have one of those, the second-gen AirPods Pro are not for you. Even if you don’t care about your earbuds' firmware version, updates can sometimes address critical performance problems, like a bug that caused the AirPods Pro’s audio to cut out when paired with certain Android devices. That issuehas since been fixed, but the required firmware update can’t be applied unless the earbuds are paired with another Apple device.
There are other downsides to using the AirPods Pro on non-Apple devices, too. There’s no voice assistant support, for one: the AirPods Pro only provides access to Siri, and only when paired with other Apple hardware. There’s also a head-tracking spatial audio feature that only works inside Apple’s ecosystem: audio from supported apps can mimic directionality as you move your head around. I actually couldn’t test this feature, even with my Apple hardware; setting it up requires an iPhone X or newer, and the only iPhone I’ve got around is a second-generation SE. Earbuds from Samsung and Google offer similar features if you value the faux-surround sound experience.
There’s also Apple’s Find My network, which uses the company’s connected hardware to help pinpoint where your misplaced gear is. You can technically access Find My through iCloud’s web interface, but connecting the second-gen AirPods Pro to Find My, or to an Apple account at all, requires — you guessed it — pairing them with an Apple device. Find My can show the AirPods Pro’s location on a map and make their case’s built-in speaker play a sound to help you find them in your couch cushions or whatever, which is all very helpful. Still, if you’re using the earbuds without any other Apple gadgets, it won’t make a difference for you.
Battery and charging
The second-gen AirPods Pro offer average battery life, quoted at six hours with ANC on. Their charging case can recharge them a full four times, which makes for a total of about 30 hours of listening time between recharges. That time will be a little less if you’re using Apple’s spatial audio features — but again, without a more recent iPhone, I wasn’t able to try that out.
Counter to Apple’s ongoing transition to USB-C, the second-gen AirPods Pro still feature a Lightning charging port. As someone who makes tech buying decisions largely based on whether I’ll need to incorporate a new charger into my routine, I hate this. But the case can also be charged wirelessly on any Qi pad you might have, so I haven’t used a Lightning cable with the AirPods Pro.
Competition
At an MSRP of $250 and frequently on sale for $200, the second-generation AirPods Pro are competing in the premium space. An obvious point of comparison from an Android perspective is the $200Google Pixel Buds Pro. Google’s earbuds don’t sound quite as rich as the AirPods Pro, nor is their ANC quite as effective. Still, the Pixel Buds come with features like multipoint audio and Google’s Fast Pair for Android phones, which AirPods don’t offer (similar Apple-exclusive features notwithstanding), plus longer battery life.
The $280Sony WF-1000XM4offer better audio fidelity, noise cancelation, and battery life than the AirPods Pro do, plus multipoint audiothanks to a recent update. They’re also frequently discounted as we inch toward the release of theWF-1000XM5.
Being made by Apple expressly for use with other Apple devices, the second-gen AirPods Pro aren’t indirectcompetition with any of the earbuds we recommend for use with Android phones. Apple’s earbuds offer Apple-exclusive features for Apple customers — and other earbuds don’t.
Should you buy them?
If you exclusively use Apple devices and spend your days on an iPhone and a MacBook, the second-generation AirPods Pro are probably very close to the ideal earbuds for you. They sound great, offer strong ANC, and they’re painless to use inside Apple’s ecosystem. Considering you’re reading Android Police, though, that’s probably not the situation you’re in.
If you want a pair of good earbuds to useprimarilywith Apple devices that you can also pair with your Android phone or tablet, the second-generation AirPods Pro might be a good fit. But when they’re not paired with another Apple device, the AirPods Pro lose a lot of functionality. There’s no voice assistant, no easy device switching, and no dynamic EQ. In-ear detection doesn’t even work on Android — the earbuds will keep on playing music even if you take them both out. The experience of using AirPods with an Android phone is flatly worse than what you’ll get with many other high-end earbuds.
If you don’t have any Apple devices at all, and you’re wondering whether the AirPods Pro might be worth it for you based on their non-exclusive features, the answer is no. The second-gen AirPods Pro’s sound quality is good, and their ANC is above average, but they’re made expressly to use with other Apple gear. Pairing the AirPods Pro with non-Apple devices, you miss out on most of the functionality that makes them worth using over competing options. You can’t even update the earbuds without connecting them to an Apple device.
No surprises here: the second-generation AirPods Pro are great earbuds for Apple devices, and they’re fine for listening on non-Apple gadgets in a pinch. If that sounds good to you, you’ll probably love them. If you mainly want to listen on devices made by companies other than Apple, though, you’d do well to look elsewhere.
Apple’s second-generation AirPods Pro are fantastic earbuds — if you spend all or most of your time using other Apple devices. On Android, the earbuds still offer strong audio quality, thorough ANC, and a comfortable fit, but most of what makes AirPods a great option for Apple users is exclusive to Apple’s ecosystem. If you spend time in both pools, you might still find the second-gen AirPods Pro a compelling option, but folks without an iPhone, an iPad, or a Mac computer won’t have a good experience.
