Apple just took the wraps off the new Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 earbuds, designed for fitness enthusiasts who want more than just music out of their audio gear.
These bad boys feature a wrap-around design similar to the original from 2019, and are also priced the same at US$250. Six years on, they get a bunch of additional niceties, the most important of which is heart-rate monitoring.
LED optical sensors in the buds pulse more than a hundred times per second to measure blood flow and track your heart rate during workouts. That takes over one of the key duties of fitness trackers worn on the wrist. So if you only need to see your heart's BPM while at the gym, you could leave your other wearable at home.
The design has also been updated for a better fit. The earhook has been reinforced with a nickel titanium alloy for increased flexibility, and this also makes the buds 20% lighter than their predecessors.
Also new for 2025 is the much-needed inclusion of active noise cancellation, along with a transparency mode that lets you hear what's going on around you without taking your earphones out.
The Powerbeats Pro 2 buds also feature a redesigned charging case that's 33% smaller than its predecessor. You can expect close to 10 hours of use from the buds, while the case enables a total of 45 hours of battery life. It also gets a USB-C port, Qi wireless charging, and the ability to juice up the buds for 90 minutes of listening time with a five-minute charge.
These buds play nice with both iOS and Android devices. If you're using the latter, you'll need a free companion app to unlock all of the features natively available on iPhones and iPads; that includes one-touch pairing, customizable controls, and locating your misplaced earbuds.
If you liked the tactile on-ear buttons from the original Powerbeats Pro, you'll be happy to know they've made it over to these new buds too. That means you can control music and volume without reaching for your phone – and you won't have to swipe or repeatedly tap on them like other buds with finicky touch-sensitive controls.
Beats also says these buds sound better than before, thanks to a redesigned acoustic architecture. There's also support for spatial audio if you're into that sort of thing.
Rated IPX4 for sweat and water resistance, the new Powerbeats are available in four colorways. You can snap them up starting today at $250.
At that price, the Powerbeats Pro 2 are among the most expensive options for workout earbuds, and they go up against heavy hitters like Jabra's Elite 8 Active Gen 2, the clip-on Bose Ultra Open, and Beats' own Fit Pro.
