Chance Miller Reviews the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2

I’m a month late linking to it, but Chance Miller wrote a terrific review for 9to5Mac:

The last several releases from Beats, such as the Studio Buds Plus and Solo 4 headphones, have been powered by a custom Beats chip rather than an Apple-designed chip like what’s used in AirPods. For Beats, this has enabled better cross-platform support for Android users, but it’s also come at the cost of several popular features for Apple fans. For example, the Studio Buds Plus lack support for automatic in-ear detection, iCloud pairing, automatic device switching, personalized spatial audio, and more.

With the Powerbeats Pro 2, Beats has gone back to its roots and opted for an Apple-designed chip. The Powerbeats Pro 2 are powered by Apple’s H2 chip, the same chip used by the latest-generation AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4. This means you get the full suite of Apple-focused audio features.

The degree of shared engineering between Apple’s teams and Beats’s has always seemed odd to me. Sometimes it seems like Beats really is an independent subsidiary, focused on cross-platform headphones, and other times it feels like they’re making Apple products under a different brand label. The sweet spot seems to be about where they landed with these Powerbeats 2.

All of the aforementioned features and improvements make Powerbeats Pro 2 an incredibly compelling product, but Beats has one more thing: Powerbeats Pro 2 feature built-in heart rate monitoring.

Each Powerbeats Pro 2 earbud has a built-in heart rate monitor comprised of four components. First, there’s an LED sensor that emits green LED light at a rate of over 100 pulses per second. This light is emitted through the skin and hits your red blood cells. The photodiode then receives the reflected light from the red blood cells that is modulated by the red blood flow. There’s an optical lens that helps direct and separate the transmitted and received light, along with an accelerometer to ensure accuracy and consistency in data collection.

Beats adds that the Powerbeats Pro 2’s heart rate sensor technology is derived from Apple’s work on the Apple Watch.

It’s weird, but cool, that Beats has delivered in-ear heartbeat monitoring before Apple’s own AirPods have. But now it seems like a lock that this will be a feature in AirPods Pro 3, right?

What I always want in a review I read — and what I try to provide to readers through my own reviews — is a sense of whether a product is for me. Powerbeats Pro 2 aren’t for me — and I know it, because Miller’s review describes them so well. But they seem like a terrific product that a lot of people would prefer to AirPods Pro.

★ Monday, 17 March 2025