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Powerbeats Pro 2 vs AirPods Pro 2
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Jun 11, 2025
In Kate’s Powerbeats Pro 2 review, she’ll break down how the Powerbeats Pro vs. AirPods Pro compare in terms of design, fit, performance, battery life and additional features. When it comes to picking the best wireless earbuds to buy between these two Apple devices, you might be surprised by which is the better choice for you.
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0:00
Shake test. Thank you very much. In this video, I'll be giving you my review of the Power Beats
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Pro 2, but more importantly, I'll break down the biggest difference between these new Power Beats
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and the AirPods Pro 2. After all, they both start at $249, and I think you'll catch on to a theme
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of Beats beating AirPods in a couple of key ways, but that's not me saying that AirPods aren't the
0:23
better choice depending on what you're looking for. Let's break it down. I want to start with the obvious contrast in design. The Powerbeats Pro, in my personal opinion
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can be completely credited with making this earhook design mainstream for wireless earbuds
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So it's obviously back again, but the whole profile is just way more slender. It has more
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of a natural curve to it to almost resemble the shape of an ear. The ear hooks are noticeably more
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flexible than before, which for me makes them really comfortable for longer periods of time
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For background, that was not the case for me on the original Powerbeats Pro, and that kind of sucked
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because I wanted something that would stay really secure, more secure than my AirPods when it came to working out
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so I could only wear them for short periods. I'd easily consider my biggest problem fixed with the Powerbeats Pro 2
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AirPods Pro look a lot different between the singular color option versus the four colors for the Powerbeats Pro 2
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and this very low profile size. I just mean, look, look, look at the size difference there
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If I'm just sitting here right like this, the AirPods are more comfortable, but shake test
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Yeah, if you're running or anything like that, forget about it. Thank you very much
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There's no competition when it comes to a secure fit. And just to make sure the Powerbeats Pro 2
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fit totally right, they come with five total ear tip sizes. That is a first for Apple. The AirPods
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AirPods Pro 2 only have 4, and it was a big deal when they offered that extra small ear tip
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The Powerbeats Pro 2 have an added extra large option meaning that these should fit properly for a larger population of people When it comes to sound quality and audio features for a pair of wireless earbuds I think the AirPods Pro 2 are pretty phenomenal very well overall
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But on the Powerbeats Pro 2, in typical Beats fashion, the extension of the bass frequencies is so good
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I'm talking rumble from bass guitars and low-end synths, punchy kick drums, and pounding bass beats
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especially in the genres that you might typically associate with working out
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I don't know about you, but I've been totally obsessed with artists like Kendrick and Dochi
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so for hip-hop fans, expect sound that has some weight to it, some bounce
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Vocals are also clear, although high-range sounds can come off a little overly sharp
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especially after listening for a while, but I'd say for most ears, there's a lot here to like
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The Beats having some established AirPods Pro 2 features like spatial audio help
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of course active noise cancellation coming to the Power Beats was pretty much non-negotiable for the price
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even if the ANC isn't going to win any awards. That said, there are certain things on the audio front that are remaining reserved for AirPods Pro 2
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The main ones I'd consider when making a buying decision are adaptive audio, conversation awareness, and all of the hearing aid functionality
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When you consider that for the same price, and if we're actually being honest, a lot less because the AirPods are almost always on sale
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But that is definitely not the case for what I know matters to a lot of you. Battery life
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The Powerbeats Pro 2 battery life just about outperforms that which you'll find not just on AirPods but also on the Sony and Bose competition
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I'm talking 10 hours without ANC turned on, closer to 8 with ANC, while the charging case has another 35 hours inside and there's fast charging
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The AirPods Pro tap out at 6 hours of listening and 30 hours total with the charging case
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And a lot of times my AirPods Pro can't even last a cross-country flight. And while the Powerbeats Pro 2 probably wouldn't be the first year buds I reached for while flying
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there are plenty of other situations where the battery life alone would be good enough reason to pack the Beats buds
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Speaking of Beats buds I will add that if battery life is a big priority for you the Beats solo buds have 18 hours of battery life That a whole eight hours more than the Power Beats Pro 2 The trade is no ANC and the Solo Buds don get more battery from
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the case, but for $80 before sales, don't sleep on these. I'll link a great deal I found to them
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in the description. Back to the Power Beats Pro 2. One last really positive thing I want to mention
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as a reason to buy these is the fact that the Beats brand has really committed to devices being
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as practical for Android users as they are for Apple customers. That's like so outside Apple
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stereotypes. But I think that earbuds and headphones should really be ecosystem agnostic
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always. AirPods Pro 2 can technically pair to an Android device, but you can't alter any of the
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controls. There's no like AirPods app for Android like there is a Beats app. I'm pretty sure I showed
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you guys some of the features of the Android Beats app in my Beats pill review. So side note
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Thanks for coming back to this channel if you watched that video, but quickly, I'll go over it again
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You get Find My, you can set up heart rate monitoring, change the ANC mode
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and assign functions to the physical control buttons on each of the buds. Probably the biggest thing missing from the experience on Android is the ability to customize your EQ
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but let's be real, a lot of people don't take advantage of that anyway. I think everything I've talked about so far establishes that the PowerBeats Pro are a really solid pair of earbuds
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and have a lot of unique advantages over the AirPods Pro 2
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I'm curious to know what matters most to you when buying a pair of new earbuds. Is it comfort, sound quality, battery life
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Sound off in the comments. So PowerBeats Pro. I've neglected to mention up to this point one of the sort of biggest features here, the heart rate monitor
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This is far from a first in the earbuds market, but what you're seeing right here is a first for an Apple-made pair of earbuds
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And the best way I can describe it as it's been made for the PowerBeats Pro 2 is a work in progress
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For one, from experience, the heart rate readings seem to spike a little bit in certain situations
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meaning that the readings are higher than you'll see on a fitness tracking watch. It's a bit of a hit or miss depending on the type of workout you're doing
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Still look it is pretty cool You can basically use these as a heart rate sensor for certain third party apps Seven in fact I throw them all up here on the screen And this is okay for launch I guess I sure more apps will gain integration with future updates
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but it's really important to differentiate that you can't use the Power Beats Pro 2
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to get an instant heart rate reading the same way you can for your Apple Watch. In fact, you can't even use them
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as your heart rate monitor for Apple Fitness Plus, which includes audio and treadmill running workouts
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I'm predicting right now that the next gen of AirPods Pro will get the heart rate monitor
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and they're probably saving some of these applications to then generate hype around
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that launch. Note that down. Another downside to the Powerbeats Pro 2 is something that I actually
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didn't expect to dislike, and that's the size of the charging case. Similar to the side-by-side I
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did earlier with the buds, look at that case difference. If you're concerned with pocketability
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which I think you might be if you're heading out on a run or something, this is very bulky
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even though it's actually 33% smaller than the previous generation Powerbeats Pro case
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I'm no engineer, I can't say it would have been possible to make this smaller without sacrificing features
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but there's no denying that this isn't super convenient. At least Beats added wireless charging, so that's nice
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Although this video is a review for the Powerbeats Pro 2, I know when two products from two well-known brands are the same price
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people care a lot more about making the right shopping decision. In this case, compared to the AirPods Pro 2
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there are a lot of instances where I'd definitely go with the Powerbeats. Despite my disappointment with the heart rate monitor, the secure fit and long battery life make these super practical for workouts, while the solid sound quality and compatibility with Android help justify the price
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I still think the AirPods Pro 2 are incredible, especially if you're talking about smarts, you know, things like those hearing aid features paired with the caliber of ANC in this super small package
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Based on this breakdown, which earbuds would you go with? And just as a reminder, we have a lot of other headphone and earbuds videos on this channel
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so why not subscribe if you enjoyed this one? Would love to see you back here soon
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Otherwise, that's it from me. Thanks for watching. I'll catch you next time
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