The 2022 AirPods Pro 2 are the wireless earbuds I know I'll buy

Apple AirPods Pro 2 will get a significant redesign

(Image credit: Apple)

published 9 December 2021

Apple's AirPods Pro are getting a radical redesign in 2022, according to well connected Apple analyst Ming Chi-Kuo.

As MacRumors reports, the second generation AirPods Pro 2 will launch in the last quarter of 2022 and will boast an entirely new design that gets rid of the stem completely in favour of something more like the Beats Fit Pro earbuds.

If the prediction is true, I'll finally have to admit that when it comes to Apple, resistance is useless: these are almost certainly going to be the best wireless earbuds for me, and maybe for you too.

I'm finally sold on the sound of Apple

I'm currently rocking a pair of Cambridge Audio Melomania Touch earbuds, which I absolutely love: I take my sound seriously and, like the Melomania 1 Plus I had before them, the Melomanias deliver an unbeatable combination of amazing sound and excellent value for money. They might not have Apple's amazing user experience, but I'm okay with that.

It's taken me a long time to believe that Apple is serious about sound. One of the first things I did with my first-gen iPod was to throw the headphones away; as the iPod made way for the iPhone I've continued to make horrible faces at the headphones that came in every new iPhone box. So when my friends and colleagues raved about their AirPods and their AirPods Pro I just figured they weren't as fussy as I was.

And then I bought my AirPods Max. The ones I tried very hard not to buy but the Black Friday deal was just too good. And now I'm a believer, because I have stood in listening rooms enjoying hi-fi equipment that costs more than a car and these headphones are just as impressive and gave my goosebumps goosebumps in exactly the same way.

I don't expect the AirPods Pro 2022 to be quite so jaw-dropping, but if Apple can deliver sound that's as good as my Cambridge Audios with the same user experience as my AirPods Max then I'm already sold.

Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written more than a dozen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote seven more books and a Radio 2 documentary series; her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, was shortlisted for the British Book Awards. When she’s not scribbling, Carrie is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind (unquietmindmusic).