New Powerbeats Pro Are Just Around the Corner

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Apple’s Beats division may be on the cusp of releasing the long-awaited sequel to its 2019 Powerbeats Pro — the sporty earbuds released on the heels of Apple’s second-generation AirPods as a solution for workout enthusiasts and others with more active lifestyles.
The Powerbeats Pro continued the company’s tradition of using Apple’s AirPods silicon in Beats headphones, which began with the Beats Solo3 on-ear headphones in 2016, followed by the urBeats 3 and Beats X in 2017. However, the Powerbeats Pro were unique in being the first set of Beats-branded earbuds to feature Apple’s H1 chip, therefore bringing support for “Hey Siri” to a set of earbuds that were guaranteed to survive even the most vigorous workouts, thanks to adjustable ear hooks and sweat and water resistance.
The workout-focused headphones were a hit among fitness enthusiasts like runners at a time when the traditional long-stemmed AirPods provided poor passive noise isolation and a poor fit for many folks with larger ear canals. However, six months later, Apple debuted the first AirPods Pro, offering Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and a much better fit — and selling them at the same price as the Powerbeats Pro. The latter were still a good choice for very active folks, but most people were better off opting for the AirPods Pro.

So, it’s no surprise that the Powerbeats Pro slowly fell off the Beats roadmap. Despite an early 2020 rumor that a new version was on the way, all that we ended up with were new colors, more new colors, an NBA 75th Anniversary Special Edition, and a pair that glowed in the dark.
Meanwhile, Beats moved on to smaller and more affordable in-ear headphones like the Beats Fit Pro, Beats Studio Buds, Beats Studios Buds+, and Beats Flex. While the Powerbeats Pro remained on the market during much of that era, they quickly became some of the oldest headphones the company continued to sell, eclipsed only by the 2016 Beats Solo3, which oddly continued to be sold after Apple released and discontinued the Beats Solo Pro.

Beats’ short-lived on-ear Solo Pro headphones signalled a sea change for Beats. Released on the heels of the Powerbeats Pro, they’d turn out to be the only Beats headphones to ever feature the H1 chip. The 2020 Powerbeats and early 2021 Beats Fit Pro also used the H1 chip, but they were the last to do so. When Apple axed the Powerbeats and Beats Solo Pro later that year, it was clear that the era of Apple silicon in Beats headphones was over.
Since then, Beats has used a custom but unspecified in-house chip that provides many W1/H1 features, such as seamless pairing, while ensuring support for Android features like Google’s Fast Pairing technology and Find My Device. The 2023 Beats Studio Pro even brought Personalized Spatial Audio — the first time we’ve seen that feature on non-Apple-branded headphones.

Nevertheless, as great as the various new styles of Beats earbuds were, they were no match for the Powerbeats Pro, which is why we were excited when Beats teased a new version in September.
At the time, the company didn’t offer a timeline beyond sometime in 2025, but Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman shared in his latest Power On newsletter that they’re coming very soon.
The latest earbuds from Apple’s Beats subsidiary are due imminently. The new accessory has already been submitted to the Federal Communications Commission and other regulators for approval, and the company is gearing up for a press briefing in a week or so to go over the details of the new product.
Mark Gurman
With Beats having moved away from Apple’s H1 chip, it’s reasonable to assume that the Powerbeats Pro 2 won’t be getting even that, much less the newer H2 found in the latest AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2. The images from September show that the Powerbeats Pro 2 will likely be smaller than their predecessors with a more streamlined and modern design. Gurman says they’ll gain support for Spatial Audio and enhanced noise cancellation, suggesting that these will have AirPods Pro-like ANC features — something the originals conspicuously lacked despite their great passive noise isolation.

What’s perhaps more interesting is that Gurman says there’s code in iOS that suggests the new Powerbeats Pro 2 could be equipped with heart-rate tracking features. If so, they’d be beating Apple’s AirPods to the punch. Gurman previously indicated that the AirPods Pro 3 will gain new health sensors to track heart rate and other metrics.
It’s unclear whether the Powerbeats Pro 2 will support these features out of the box or if they won’t be activated until a future iOS release enables them — possibly concurrently with the release of the AirPods Pro 3. Still, the Beats Studio Pro proved that Apple wasn’t afraid to undercut the AirPods Max, and it wouldn’t be out of the question for the company to lead with heart-rate tracking on its most workout-focused headphones.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]