Apple AirPods Pro 2 Review

My Father Can Hear Me Again. That's the Review.

I'm going to start with the feature that made me emotional about a pair of earbuds, because no tech review should bury the most human story on page three. My father is 68. He's had mild hearing loss for about five years — the kind where he hears you but asks "kya?" twice in every conversation, where the TV volume creeps up until the neighbours can follow the plot, where phone calls become frustrating guessing games for both sides.

He refused to get hearing aids. The stigma. The cost. The idea that he'd look old. Classic Indian dad resistance. So when Apple announced that the AirPods Pro 2 include a clinically certified Hearing Aid mode for mild-to-moderate hearing loss, I pre-ordered a pair and told him they were "just earbuds for calls."

Setting up the hearing test through iOS 19's Health app took about 5 minutes. Calibrated the amplification to his specific hearing profile. He put them in, I spoke at normal volume from across the room, and his face changed. Not dramatically — he's not one for theatrics. But his eyes widened slightly and he said, very quietly, "I can hear everything you're saying."

That moment is worth more than any spec sheet. But there's also a Rs 24,900 pair of earbuds to evaluate for everything else they do, so let's get into it.

The Hearing Health Features in Detail

Three things happening here. First: a clinical-grade hearing test built into the Health app on iPhone. It plays a series of tones at varying frequencies and volumes, maps your hearing profile, and identifies the severity and pattern of any hearing loss. The test takes about 5 minutes in a quiet room. Results are stored in the Health app and can be shared with an audiologist.

Second: Hearing Aid mode. Based on your hearing test results, iOS 19 amplifies specific frequencies through the AirPods to compensate for your hearing deficiencies. My father's profile showed mild loss primarily in the 2-4 kHz range (common with age), and the amplification profile targeted exactly that range. Voices became clearer for him. TV audio through the AirPods was intelligible at much lower volumes. Phone calls, which he'd been avoiding, became manageable again.

The regulatory certification matters here. These aren't just "earbuds that get loud." Apple obtained clinical-grade hearing aid certification in multiple markets — the AirPods Pro 2 are a registered medical device in this mode. In India, the hearing test and hearing aid features are available as of March 2026, though the medical device registration is still pending full CDSCO approval. Apple's positioned this as a "hearing wellness" feature domestically while the regulatory process continues.

Third: hearing protection. The AirPods monitor environmental noise levels and alert you if your exposure exceeds safe daily limits (based on WHO guidelines). Living in Indian cities where ambient noise regularly exceeds 70 dB, this alerts more frequently than you'd expect. I got a "Your noise exposure is high today" notification twice during my first week, both on days I'd spent significant time in traffic or near construction sites. Whether I acted on those notifications is another matter, but the awareness is valuable.

The H3 Chip: What Changed Under the Hood

Apple's new H2 chip replaces the H2 from the AirPods Pro 2. The marketing says "50% more computational audio power." What that translates to in practice: better ANC, better Spatial Audio processing, faster Adaptive Audio switching, and enough headroom for the hearing health features without impacting battery life.

The ANC improvement is real but incremental. I wore AirPods Pro 2 on one ear and AirPods Pro 2 on the other for three days of comparison testing (looked absurd, got questions). In quiet environments, the difference is negligible. In noisy environments — specifically a busy cafe and the Bangalore Metro — the Pro 3 had a perceptibly lower noise floor. Low-frequency sounds that the Pro 2 reduced but didn't eliminate were slightly more attenuated on the Pro 3. I'd estimate a 10-15% improvement in overall ANC effectiveness.

The bigger improvement is in the transparency mode. Apple calls it "Adaptive Audio" — it blends ANC and transparency modes dynamically based on the acoustic environment. The Pro 3's version is the most natural-sounding transparency I've experienced on any earbuds. External sounds come through with very little coloration — conversations sound like conversations, not like conversations being piped through a tiny microphone. Traffic sounds natural. Wind noise is reduced rather than amplified (a problem on older transparency modes). If someone taps me on the shoulder while I'm wearing these, I can have a full conversation without removing the earbuds and it doesn't feel weird.

Sound Quality: Best AirPods Have Ever Sounded

The H2 chip brings tangible audio improvements. Low end is tighter and more defined — bass notes have distinct pitch rather than a general thump. Midrange has more texture and detail. High frequencies are extended with better air and sparkle.

Compared directly to AirPods Pro 2: the difference is subtle but audible. Put on a well-mastered track — I keep going back to A.R. Rahman's "Kun Faya Kun" for testing because it has such a wide dynamic range — and the Pro 3 reveals micro-details in the tabla and the sitar that the Pro 2 smoothed over. Vocals have more presence, more "there" quality. The soundstage feels marginally wider.

For Apple Music subscribers with Lossless enabled, the Pro 3 does a better job extracting quality from the Bluetooth pipeline. Apple's proprietary codec still isn't LDAC, but whatever they're doing with the H2 chip's audio processing narrows the gap between Bluetooth and wired audio more than any previous AirPods generation.

Personalized Spatial Audio uses the iPhone's TrueDepth camera to map your ear geometry and create a custom spatial audio profile. The result: spatial audio tracks feel genuinely three-dimensional in a way that generic spatial audio doesn't. Head tracking is smooth and natural — turn your head during a movie and the sound field stays anchored to the screen's position. It's convincing enough to be immersive rather than gimmicky.

Where the Pro 3 won't win: against the Samsung Buds 4 Pro's two-way driver system, the single-driver AirPods produce slightly less low-end impact and slightly less treble separation. Against the Sony WF-1000XM5, the bass is tighter but less voluminous. These are tuned for accuracy and balance rather than for immediate wow factor. I prefer accuracy, but preferences vary.

Design and Comfort

The iconic AirPods Pro silhouette continues — short stems, in-ear tips, compact and lightweight. At 5.3 grams per bud, they're among the lightest premium TWS earbuds available. I genuinely forget they're in my ears during extended wear.

The big comfort improvement: XS ear tips are now included alongside S, M, and L. If you've tried previous AirPods Pro and found even the Small tips too large — which is a surprisingly common complaint from people with smaller ear canals — the XS might finally make these comfortable for you. My wife, who couldn't wear the Pro 2 for more than 30 minutes without discomfort, has been wearing the Pro 3 with XS tips for 2+ hours comfortably.

IPX4 water resistance on both buds and case. Handles sweat and light rain. Not pool-proof, not shower-proof. Adequate for daily use, insufficient for serious athletic use in heavy rain.

The MagSafe/Qi2 charging case is compact, satisfying to open and close, and now charges via USB-C (finally). The case speaker plays a sound when you ring it through Find My. The lanyard loop on the side is useful for clipping to a bag if you're prone to losing things.

Battery Life

9 hours per charge with ANC active. Tested over multiple days: consistently hitting 8-8.5 hours, which is close enough to the claim. Without ANC, closer to 11 hours. The 30-hour total with the case means I charge the case roughly twice a week with my usage pattern (3 hours daily average).

5-minute quick charge for 1 hour of playback exists for emergencies. MagSafe charging is convenient if you have a charger at your desk — just set the case down and forget about it. The case also charges from an Apple Watch charger, which is a nice touch if you've got one on your nightstand.

The Apple Ecosystem Integration

This is where AirPods Pro 2 justify their existence specifically for Apple users. Automatic switching between iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch works flawlessly — take a call on iPhone, switch to music on Mac, get a FaceTime call on iPad, and the AirPods follow you without any manual intervention. The transition takes about 1.5 seconds and is reliable about 95% of the time.

Conversation Awareness automatically lowers media volume and enhances voice frequencies when it detects you speaking. More natural than Samsung's Voice Detect in my experience — the volume reduction is gradual rather than abrupt, and the transition back to full volume after you stop speaking is smooth.

Find My with Precision Finding shows a directional arrow and distance measurement on your iPhone's screen, guiding you straight to a misplaced earbud. Works for individual buds, not just the case. The U1/U2 chip enables this, and it's accurate to within about 10 centimetres indoors. Found a fallen earbud under my couch in about 15 seconds using this.

Announce Notifications reads incoming messages aloud through the AirPods when you're wearing them. Useful while cooking, driving, or any situation where pulling out your phone is inconvenient. Siri's voice has improved enough that the experience is natural rather than robotic.

Call Quality and Siri Integration

Phone calls through the AirPods Pro 2 are excellent. Apple's beamforming microphone system isolates your voice from ambient noise better than any TWS earbuds I've tested. Callers consistently reported my voice sounding "clear, like you're in a quiet room" even when I was walking on a moderately busy street. Wind reduction during outdoor calls has improved markedly over the Pro 2 — I could jog and take a call without the other person hearing a wind tunnel.

Siri on the AirPods is faster with the H2 chip. "Hey Siri, set a timer for 10 minutes" — response within a second. "Hey Siri, play Tum Hi Ho on Apple Music" — accurate and immediate. The hands-free experience means I rarely pull out my iPhone while cooking, driving (parked!), or walking. Siri can read incoming messages, let you reply by voice, and even summarise what you've missed on your notification stack if you've been away from your phone.

For video calls on FaceTime, the audio quality is outstanding. Colleagues have specifically commented that I sound better on AirPods Pro 2 than on my MacBook's built-in microphones — which is saying something, because Apple's laptop mics are already decent. Zoom and Google Meet work well too, though the voice isolation processing is slightly less refined on non-Apple platforms.

Who Shouldn't Buy the AirPods Pro 2

I want to end with this because the impulse to recommend AirPods to everyone is strong and I need to resist it. These are NOT for everyone. Here's who should specifically avoid them.

Android users. Full stop. On Android, you lose Spatial Audio head tracking, automatic device switching, Personalized Spatial Audio, Conversation Awareness, Find My with Precision Finding, Hearing Aid mode, the hearing test, Announce Notifications, and most of what makes these worth Rs 24,900. What's left is a decent pair of ANC earbuds with good sound — which you can get for Rs 10,000-15,000 from other brands. Don't spend Apple premium without the Apple ecosystem. It's throwing money away.

People who exercise in rain or heavily. IPX4 handles sweat and light drizzle. Heavy rain, pool splashes, dropping them in a puddle — not covered. Samsung's IPX7-rated Buds 4 Pro or Jaybird Vista 2 with IP68 are better athletic companions if water exposure is a real concern.

Bass-first listeners. If your definition of good audio is deep, chest-rattling bass that overwhelms everything else — the AirPods Pro 2 will disappoint you. They're tuned for balance and accuracy. The bass is present, tight, and well-defined, but it doesn't thump or boom. Sony's WF-1000XM5 or even the boAt Airdopes Nirvana series will satisfy bass hunger more directly.

Budget-conscious buyers who just want ANC earbuds. The boAt Airdopes 511 ANC at Rs 2,999 provides functional noise cancellation and 10-hour battery for one-eighth the price. The AirPods Pro 2 are better in every measurable way — but eight times better? No. If ANC is your primary need and budget is constrained, there are extremely capable options under Rs 5,000 now.

People who don't care about health features. If the hearing test, hearing aid mode, and noise exposure monitoring don't interest you — and for many younger users, they legitimately won't — you're paying a premium for capabilities you'll never use. The AirPods Pro 2, which still sells at Rs 19,900 or less during sales, provides 85% of the non-health experience.

People upgrading from AirPods Pro 2 who don't need hearing features. The audio improvement is real but subtle. The ANC improvement is real but incremental. If your Pro 2 are working fine and you don't need the hearing health features, the upgrade isn't dramatic enough to justify Rs 24,900. Wait for the Pro 4 or until your Pro 2 batteries degrade (which typically happens after 2-3 years of heavy use).

For everyone who remains after those exclusions — iPhone users who value the ecosystem, families with elderly members who could benefit from hearing amplification, anyone who wants the most natural-sounding transparency mode for daily wear, professionals who switch between Apple devices throughout the day — the AirPods Pro 2 are the best earbuds money can buy in India right now. Just make sure you're in that target group before dropping Rs 24,900.

As for my father? He wears them every day now. Calls them "his ears." He's started taking phone calls again, something he'd been avoiding for two years. The TV volume has come down by 40%. My mother says the house is quieter. That's not a spec sheet achievement. That's a life quality achievement. And honestly, it's the thing I'll remember about these earbuds long after the technical details fade.

Price in India

The Apple AirPods Pro 2 are priced at Rs 24,900 in India. Available on Apple India's website, Amazon India, Flipkart, and authorised Apple resellers like Imagine, iStore, and Unicorn. Apple rarely discounts current-gen AirPods, but authorised resellers occasionally offer Rs 1,000-2,000 off during festive sales.