iPhone 12 Pro, Apple Watch Series 6, iPad Air 4 – Latest Leaks & Rumors!

We haven’t made a Leaks & Rumors episode since July. This is mostly because I like to wait until we get a few more things to talk about and we haven’t really had a good amount of new leaks, until now.

We finally have some major updates on the iPhone 12 Pro, the Apple Watch Series 6, which is apparently launching next week, as well as the iPad Air 4 and the upcoming Apple Event. So, without any further ado, get those snacks ready, sit back, relax, and enjoy!

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iPhone 12 Pro 

In terms of the iPhone 12, you might remember the large number of leaks that we got suggesting the Frame was going to be squared-off, the Notch was going to be smaller and that the Triple Camera Module would now be a Quad-Camera Module with one of the Modules being that LiDAR Sensor. Even though these were “meh” changes, I would’ve loved to see the Notch be made even smaller or even removed entirely. Jon Prosser posted a CAD drawing of the iPhone 12’s Notch back in May, which appeared to show the Speaker Grill moving into the Bezel, making the Notch a bit smaller this way. 

This our idea of what the iPhone 12 will look like, check out "@ZONEofCONCEPTS’ for more.

Another leaker (@Choco_bit) posted an image of the iPhone 12 Pro, showing the smaller Notch, the Quad-Camera Module on the back (again with a LiDAR Sensor) and we also saw the iOS 14 Widgets. We did get the Widgets, but the other two changes would not be happening anymore. Jon Prosser posted, on August 26th, saying that the Notch is staying the same and the Bezels are getting noticeably thinner, so at least there’s that. The Notch will appear smaller on the 6.7” iPhone 12 Pro Max as the Display itself will be bigger. Jon also mentioned that FaceID will work from wider angles, even flat on the table, so that is indeed a nice improvement. 

The sides are flat, like we’ve seen in all the leaks. We’re going to get that iPhone 4 & iPhone 5 style Body, while the Glass will indeed have a slight curve, which will make it easier to use when it comes to Gestures. Jon is also saying that the entire Camera Module would now be 10% larger. I’m assuming that he’s referring to the big square housing for the Modules. In terms of that Back Camera Array, we’ve had a bunch of recent leaks. These are Case leaks that mostly show a Triple Camera Module Array, instead of the Quad that we’ve seen leaked before as the LiDAR Module would now be positioned in a very similar manner to how the Flash is. I think that’s a worse approach. Also, the LiDAR Module on the iPad Pro 2020 is quite a bit larger than the one on these iPhone 12 leaks. Maybe Apple can pull this off and compact it a bit more to make it smaller but in my opinion, I still think it would look nicer with a Quad-Camera Module Array.

It looks like the Triple-Camera Array is staying for the iPhone 12.

So, no smaller Notch or Quad-Camera Module Array, any other updates? Well, we still don’t know for sure what is happening with the high Refresh Rate Display. We’ve had countless leaks saying that it will happen and countless leaks saying that it won’t. But luckily, it seems like there is some hope. Jon Prosser posted a bunch of photos and even a full hands-on video of an iPhone 12 Pro PVT unit. These are the Production Validation Test units and they’re basically tested by Apple employees in order to ensure that they’re working correctly. They need to undergo a bunch of tests and if they pass all tests correctly, these are the units that will be mass produced. In most cases, these are exactly what the retail units would look like.

Interestingly enough, there is actually a toggle in the Settings to enable High Refresh Rate on these, but there is also a note telling employees to check if their PVT unit supports high Refresh Rate. It seems that Apple has manufactured some units with 120Hz, and others without. Display Analyst Ross Young reports that, based on his sources, it is way more likely for Apple to release the iPhone 12 Pro with just a 60Hz Panel. It looks like Apple has managed to get the 120Hz Panels in the end, but not the 120Hz Driver.

So, we’ll have to wait and see what happens but in my opinion, a high Refresh Rate on the iPhone 12 Pro is a must. We’ve had high Refresh Rate Smartphones since 2017. The first Phone to come with it was the Razer Phone, which featured a 120Hz Panel. Since then, more and more Smartphones have started including this to the point where even mid-range Smartphones in 2020, such as the OnePlus Nord, come with a 90Hz Panel.

Apple is late to the party with higher Refresh Rate Displays.

I know that Apple wants to wait until they get it working properly. They want to use an LTPO Panel so that they can adjust the Refresh Rate from 120Hz, all the way down to 1Hz, just like the iPad Pro’s ProMotion Display does. That is an LCD Display, rather than an OLED. The only Smartphones out right now with an LTPO Display, are Samsung’s Note 20 Ultra and Z Fold 2. That’s it. Samsung has already made it clear to Apple that they would not be able to provide them with an LTPO Panel in 2020. It seems like that has changed, or at least Apple has found a different solution for that. Judging from the PVT units, it seems like they can only switch between the 60Hz and a 120Hz Refresh Rate, which could point towards this not being an LTPO Panel, but rather a standard 120Hz Panel like we’ve seen on most 2019 and 2020 Smartphones. On those Phones, you can indeed switch between 60Hz and 120Hz, but nothing more than that. Anyway, if this iPhone doesn’t have 120Hz, then it would be a major disappointment in my eyes. 

Camera-wise, we haven’t really had any massive leaks aside from a new Sensor that Apple will be using to enable better Low-Light Performance, as well as Night Mode with the Ultra-Wide Angle Module. Aside from that, Jon Prosser showed us that the Camera will indeed support 4K120 as well as 4K240, both of which are likely to be used in slow-motion, or at least the 4K240 mode will as that’s listed as Slow-Mo. That’s pretty nuts for a Phone. There’s no other Phone, other than the iPhone 11 Pro, that can shoot 4K60 and all Lenses. Now, the iPhone 12 Pro will bump that up to 4K120 and even 4K240. It’s pretty nuts what Apple’s Processor is capable of. But that’s mostly it.

There will be no Charger in the box, that’s already confirmed. ‘LoveToDream’ reported that the Lightning Cable will now be braided, so at least there’s that.

In terms of the Release Date, Jon Prosser has posted the timeline for Apple’s upcoming releases. Do keep in mind that Jon has been 100% accurate in the past, in terms of actual Release Dates. According to Jon, Apple will launch the new Apple Watch next week, followed by a new iPad. Then the iPhone 12 event will be in mid-October, followed by the iPhone 12 release on October 19th, followed by the iPhone 12 Pro release sometime in November. 

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Apple Watch Series 6

What about the Apple Watch Series 6? If you’re enjoying this, we have some really awesome content coming in the next few days so it would be great if you could Subscribe so you don’t miss out, it’s free to do so. 

Well, my top request would be for Apple to redesign the entire Watch and make it into a Circular Design, or at least offer a Circular Design as well. That’s my personal request and I would love to see that happen. Unfortunately, it will not happen this year. The Series 6 would look identical to the Series 5. There will only be one major improvement, the addition of a Blood Oxygen Level Meter. This will show you the saturation of Oxygen in your blood. If it’s between 95% and 100%, then that’s all good. Anything lower and you might want to go and see a Doctor. Also, COVID does affect the Oxygen level in your blood so the Series 6 might even be able to give you a notification in case you have signs that could point to you having COVID. So, that’s the main feature.

The Circular Design may come one day, but not this time.

The Battery is getting larger, but only from 296mAh, to 303.8mAh. The Performance is going to be improved thanks to the Apple Watch S6 Processor. I am hoping that the Battery Life will be improved quite substantially because the Series 5 was actually a downgrade over the Series 4. The Series 4 could easily last me two days, whereas the Series 5 has even died on me mid-day when I was cycling for like four hours with GPS enabled and Cellular enabled. Workouts kill off the Battery like crazy. Now that Sleep Tracking has been added in watchOS 7, Battery Life is more important than ever.

We’ve also seen reports that Apple is working on an Apple Watch SE, essentially updating the Apple Watch Series 3 with a more recent Processor and selling that for around $200. Mark Gurman from Bloomberg has reported on this as well. Overall, it seems like they’re just making as few small changes as they can until they can really re-design this thing. The Series 4 was really the big change, back in 2018. The Series 5 only added a Display Controller, which in combination with the LTPO Panel, which the Series 4 also had, allowed it to have an Always-On Display. The Series 4 could’ve easily had it as well, it only needed that tiny Display Controller.

It seems like the Series 6 will be another minor upgrade, with the biggest change just being the Oxygen Level Meter, which could’ve been easily added to the Series 5 and even the Series 4.

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New iPad 

Finally, it seems like there is also a brand new iPad that Apple will be launching as early as next week, according to Jon Prosser. But which iPad is this? Is it a new iPad Pro, or a new iPad Air or a new entry-level iPad? Well, it’s definitely not a new iPad Pro as we just got one earlier this year.

It will either be a new iPad Air (the iPad Air 4) or a new entry level iPad, (the iPad 8th Generation), ‘mydrivers.com', which has a mixed track record, reports that this will come with an 11” Display, an A14 Processor and 128GB of Baseline Storage. Essentially, identical to the 2018 iPad Pro in terms of Design, just with a more powerful Processor. ‘91mobiles’ posted a few schematics of this new iPad, showing some slightly thicker Bezels than on the iPad Pro and a slightly smaller 10.8” Display. 

We don’t know exactly which iPad this will be, just that it won’t be new ‘Pro’ model.

FaceID will be included, as opposed to just TouchID on the Power Button, which a leaked manual was apparently showing. A Smart Connector does appear to be present on these schematics, which would allow support for Apple’s Magic Keyboard.

Mark Gurman and Debby Wu of Bloomberg have both written a fairly comprehensive report outlining Apple’s plans for this quarter and according to them, this iPad would indeed be a brand new iPad Air with pretty much the same Design style as the iPad Pro. It would make sense for the Display to indeed be an 11” Panel, rather than something smaller with slightly thicker Bezels just to make the iPad Pro look a bit better.

I have to say, I am a bit unsure in terms of the Processor. Some reports are saying that it will come with an Apple A14X Chip, while some are saying that this will be an A14 Chip. The A14 would make sense but only if Apple also updates the 2020 iPad Pro with the A14X. Otherwise, it would just be weird having an A14 in this new iPad Air and a slower A12Z, at least slower on the CPU side, on the iPad Pro. That just wouldn’t make that much sense. That’s my personal prediction, a CPU update for the 2020 iPad Pro with the A14X.

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AirPods Studio

The New AirPods Studio could be right around the corner.

Now, here’s a bonus item. A brand new pair of AirPods. Mark Gurman and Debby Wu also report that Apple is preparing a new pair of AirPods, those AirPods Studio that we’ve been hearing about for a few months now. The leaker ‘Komiya’ reports that the AIrPods Studio will come in White and Space Grey. The Audio Quality and Active Noise Cancelling would be “very high”, according to Komiya.

Apparently, they will also come with Apple’s new H1X Chip, some new Equaliser Settings and Ear Detection, so just like the regular AirPods. They may have some sort of Hand Gesture, like the HomePod does.

The Price will be $350, likely £350 in the UK, and they will ship in September/October and announced via a press release on Apple’s website. From the looks of it, it seems like these could be announced next week when Apple also launches the Apple Watch Series 6 and the new iPad Air 4. Jon Prosser even posted the time of the release, which according to him would be on Tuesday, September 8th between 9-12 EST when Apple will be holding *something* on their website.

iPhone 13 (2021), AirPods Studio, Apple Glass & more!

We don’t even have the iPhone 12 yet, but we already have some iPhone 13 leaks. Get those snacks ready as we’ll be covering the recent iPhone 13 Leaks, Apple Glasses updates, iPhone 12 updates, AirPods Studio Headphones and so much more!

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iPhone 13

Another iPhone, another Camera Module

Starting off with the iPhone 13, Twitter leaker Fudge (@choco_bit), who’s been accurate in the past, claims that this is the supposed layout for the iPhone 13 (Right), which would be the 2021 iPhone. He did say that we should take this with a grain of salt, since these leaks are pre-event. So, this could indeed be something that Apple is considering for the iPhone 13 lineup, it’s just that it’s way too early to know for sure if Apple would indeed go down this route.

Regardless, this is our very first look into what could materialise into the iPhone 13 and as you can see, the back is quite a bit different now. We have four Camera Modules, compared to three on the iPhone 11/12. That LiDAR Sensor, from the iPhone 12, has now been moved underneath that four Camera Array. I would say that this does make a lot of sense. If Apple were to add another Module, they would preferably add it in that Triple Camera Array, where the LiDAR Module is currently sitting on the iPhone 12’s. This would be in order to have a consistent design, so the LiDAR Module would be moved somewhere outside of that Array.

Now, you’re probably wondering, what would that fourth Camera be for? Is it a Zoom Camera? Is it one of those strange Colour Filter Cameras that OnePlus added?

Well, it is way too early to know but my personal guess is that it is some sort of Periscope Telephoto Module, similar to what Huawei and Samsung have added. It may possibly be a 5x Optical Zoom Module or something along those lines.The likelihood with a Module like that, is that you can only go from 1x to 5x, anything in between would just be Digital Zoom. However, if you keep the 2x Module and then add a 5x Module, you still retain a sharp Zoom Level in between the two. This is what I believe Apple would do, judging from this design leak.

Speaking of the Cameras, Fudge also tweeted some details about the iPhone 13 Camera System and according to him, the iPhone 13’s model number is D6x and the Main Camera would be a 64MP Module with 6x Digital Zoom. Others have done this in the past. Samsung is a very good example, they added a very high Megapixel count to their Smartphones but as a result, Low-Light Performance was affected negatively. They started having Focusing issues so, as long as you have a tiny Smartphone Sensor, adding more Pixels would just make those Pixels smaller as there’s finite room inside the Smartphone Sensor. Because of this, they would capture less light. This is why Apple is one of the last Smartphone manufacturers that kept the (now) low-res 12MP Sensor, because the lower the MP count, the bigger the Pixels are and the better the Camera is in Low-Light. Anyway, that’s just the Main Module.

Then we would have a 40MP Ultra-Wide Angle Module and a 40MP Telephoto Module with 3-5x Optical Zoom, like I was assuming, with a 15-20x Digital Zoom. These are very likely possibilities. Probably not so much in terms of the the Ultra-Wide Module as it’s already pretty bad in Low-Light, an increase in Megapixel count would just make it worse. But the Telephoto Module would benefit a lot from an increased Megapixel count.

Finally, the fourth Module would actually not be a 2x Telephoto. According to Fudge, it would be a 64MP Anamorphic Lens. So, a 2.1:1 Aspect Ratio that would give you an incredibly wide and cinematic view, especially when shooting video. But, is there really any point in having that if we already have an Ultra-Wide Module? I would say no, and Fudge pretty much agrees. He does say that we should take this with a huge amount of salt. It’s extremely likely that his sources did tell him that these are things that Apple is currently considering doing, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will definitely happen. We can’t be sure of that just yet. Also, it seems that Jon Prosser disagrees. He says that the Camera layout of the iPhone 13 would be identical to the iPhone 12, something that ‘LoveToDream’, another accurate leaker, disagrees with. From my understanding, both LovetoDream and Fudge get their info from a Supply Chain source, whereas Jon Prosser gets his info from Apple’s own team, this is the reason why we have some conflicts here.

Given Apples’s history with recycling old designs, we wouldn’t expect any massive changes in that single year.

Aside from that, another change that could be coming to the iPhone 13 is the Notch. As you probably all know by now, the iPhone 12 will still have the Notch. It’s just that it would be smaller, thanks to the repositioning of the Earpiece. We’ve heard some rumors that Apple could be removing the Notch from the iPhone 13 entirely, with them being in favour of a Full-Screen Display. But, knowing Apple and how they like to keep a certain design for as long as possible, I don’t see them giving up on the iPhone 12”s front design after just one year. It would be cool, but I don’t think that’s happening in 2021.

But something that is happening in 2021, is Apple finally dropping Lightning from the iPhone! However, we would not be getting USB C, which we’ve been wanting for so many years now, but instead, the iPhone 13 would have a complete Wireless Charging solution. This means that we would have no Ports on the 2021 iPhone. Instead, we would be getting something that looks like a Smart Connector, which would allow you to connect a Magnetic Charging Cable and charge the iPhone like that. This would be very similar to how the Apple Watch charges.

Now, while that is pretty neat, USB C Charging would still be preferred. Otherwise, this would still be another extra cable that you would have to carry with you, which would be just as inconvenient as it is to carry the Lightning Cable now, when all of your other devices are USB C. But the thing is, this is looking extremely likely to happen.

Fudge reported that this is indeed happening but that you would be expected to charge the iPhone wirelessly instead. Ming-Chi-Kuo has reported the exact same thing and Jon Prosser has also mentioned this as well. They are all saying that one Portless iPhone will be coming next year and that Apple will never add USB C to their iPhones. Bloomberg also reported a similar thing. That Apple will be removing the lighting connector from at least one of their iPhones, in 2021. These are four sources with a very good track-record, all reporting the exact same thing. So, it’s looking quite likely that at least one iPhone 13 would be going fully wireless next year.

So, there you go, that’s how the iPhone 13 is shaping up. This completely wireless iPhone with the same frame as the iPhone 12, possibly the same exact Notch and likely some Camera improvements, which will be focused on the Zoom functionality that is currently lacking.

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iPhone 12

When it comes to this year’s iPhone, the iPhone 12, we do have some fresh updates. According to Ming-Chi-Kuo, the iPhone 12’s would not come with Headphones inside the box anymore, in order for Apple to sell more AirPods.

That does make a lot of sense, especially considering the price leaks that Jon Prosser has posted. According to Jon, the 5.4” iPhone 12, which would be the lowest-end model, would start from $650. It will come with an OLED Display, the new A14 Processor and a Dual Camera Module. That’s an insanely low price for new iPhones. The 6.1” iPhone 12 Max would cost $750, followed by the 6.1” iPhone 12 Pro, which could cost $1000, followed by the 6.7” iPhone 12 Pro Max, which would cost $1100.

After the $400 iPhone SE, it seems that the base iPhone 12 is also on the more affordable side.

Aside from the Camera Modules and the Stainless Steel build, the regular iPhone 12’s would still come with all the features that the Pro models come with. Meaning that there hasn’t been a year when Apple had a better iPhone line-up. They obviously had to make some trade-offs to keep that price low and it seems like one of these would be not including Headphones. Unfortunately, one of the other trade-offs would be the lack of any high Refresh Rate Display.

There have been a ton of conflicting reports on this, with some saying that it would have a 120Hz Display, and some saying that it would not. Long story short, according to Display Analyst Ross Young, Apple wants to include an LTPO OLED Display on the iPhone 12’s so that they can dynamically adjust the Refresh Rate from 1Hz, all the way up to 120Hz. This is just like what they’re doing on the iPad Pro, but keep in mind that the iPad Pro has an LCD Display, not an OLED.

Samsung does have 120Hz Displays for Smartphones but the Refresh Rate is fixed. This is what Samsung has been using on their own S20 line and while they’re good, the Battery Life just isn’t that great, at least not on the Exynos models. Samsung will indeed have a 120Hz LTPO OLED Panel this year but according to Ross, they are reserving it for the Galaxy Note 20 and the Galaxy Fold 2.

Apple will only be allowed to use it next year, in 2021. Which means that this year, they will have to choose between a great Battery Life and a constant 120Hz Display, it seems like they’re not choosing the 120Hz at all this year. This is mostly everything new, when it comes to the iPhone 12. 

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AirPods Studio

Next up, we have some quick updates on the next-gen AirPods.

So, Jon Prosser mentioned back in May that Apple will be releasing some new over-ear Headphones, just like the Beats Solo’s or Studio. However, rather than calling these the new Beats Studio, they will be marketing these as AirPods. Which means that we would now have three variants of the AirPods. The entry level models, the AirPods Pro and these new AirPods Studio, which are codenamed B515 and will start at $350, according to Jon

Be sure to check out our second Instagram account (@ZONEofCONCEPTS) for more concepts like this one!

Mark Gurman from Bloomberg released a massive report, with a ton of inside details on the new AirPods studio. According to Mark, Apple is actually working on two AirPods Studio models, a premium version with leather-like fabrics and a fitness focused model that uses lighter, breathable materials. The headband is said to be very thin, with full metal arms. Not only that, but Mark says that the ear-pads would be magnetic and that you can indeed replace them with different designs when you wish. This design would allow you to go from fitness mode to ‘pro mode’ so to say, whenever you want. Now, I’m not sure to what extent these ear-cups would be modular, since they do have a lot of tech inside and you can just buy more of these, as it would be quite pricey. I think it’s just the material surrounding it that would be modular and replaceable. 

This is how we’ve modelled our concept (Above) and we decided to base these off of the leaked iOS 14 icon. We’ve made these gigantic ear-cups, held in place by a fairly thin headband. We do have invisible touch controllers on the sides, which would allow you to adjust the volume, skip to the next song, skip to the previous song as well as invoke Siri, which you can also do by saying the magic keyword command.

At a price point of $350, Apple seems to be competing directly with Sony, Microsoft and Bose, with their line of high-end, Noise Cancelling Headphones. Sony is currently the king in this department, with their WH-1000WM3’s and I’m really curious to see if Apple can actually beat them in terms of Sound Quality and of course, Noise Cancelling. 

Personally, I’m not really into over-ear Headphones. I always find them to be way too big. They’re perfect on a plane but, aside from that, I would never use them. I do prefer in-ear Headphones, like the AirPods Pro, so do let me know down below, which team are you?

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Apple Glass

Finally, just some quick updates on the Apple AR Glasses. In a previous video, I talked about those massive leaks from Jon Prosser. 

Jon Prosser also said that Apple is working on a circular version of their Glasses, which would be called the “Steve Jobs Heritage Edition” and they would be more premium and likely more expensive than the usual model. However, Mark Gurman calls this, and all of the leaks that Jon Prosser covered, as complete fiction.

All the patents we’ve sen so far point to something similar to the Oculus Quest, which we absolutely loved.

Mark Gurman said that there are two devices in the works right now, rather than just one, this is what I’ve personally heard as well. One device is the mixed AR and VR Headset, similar to the Oculus Quest. This is called N301 according to Mark Gurman, it could be announced as early as 2021 (matching Jon’s report) and released in 2022. The other model would be those pure AR Glasses (N421), which would not launch until the end of 2022 or even 2023.

Now, we have seen a ton of Apple patents on both of these designs, but most of the patents seemed to show the Oculus Quest style Headset, rather than the true AR Glasses design that we’re all looking forward to. My guess is that it’s somewhere in between. The AR/VR Headset would launch in late 2021, like Jon reported, and then the actual AR Glasses would launch in 2022. These ones will need more tweaks, especially considering the insanely high Resolution Displays. These would be 8K Displays in each eye, if we’re going by CNET’s 2018 report on this.

So, there you go! We still have quite some time to wait until any of these come out, so do let me know, which of these products are you excited for the most?

AirPods Pro - FULL Review (after 1+ month of use)

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These are the brand new AirPods Pro and you’ve probably heard all about them by now, some of you have even heard them in person.

When buying a pair of new headphones, I believe that there are six major things you need to consider:

1. Sound Quality

2. Comfortability

3. Battery Life

4. Special Features

5. Design

6. Value

I’ve been using the AirPods Pro’s since they came out on October the 30th, so well over a month now, and I’m finally ready to give you guys my full in-depth review on Apple’s highest end first party headphones.

Spoiler, they’re the best headphones I’ve ever used!

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SOUND QUALITY

First off I have to say, I am not an audiofile person myself. In terms of overhead “pro” headphones that I’ve used, I’ve used the Audiotechnica M70X’s which are studio monitors, the Audiotechnica M50X’s, and the Beats Solo 2’s. I, of course, have used countless in-ear headphones, from Apple’s original EarPods, to the new EarPods, to the Lightning EarPods, to AirPods, Samsung headphones, HTC headphones, Jaybird X3’s and a few more. So I’ve used a fair amount of headphones, but not as many as possible some of you guys. Just wanted to give you a bit of a background as to where I’m coming from in terms of the sound quality.

So how is the Sound Quality on the AirPods Pro’s? Well, they’re good. They’re not the best sounding truly wireless headphones on the market, the Sony ones are better and there’s a few other better options in terms of the sound quality, but they’re still very good.

When I compared the new AirPods to the originals I certainly felt that the new ones had much richer mids and definitely more bass than the originals. It’s kinda like the difference between the 2019 15” MacBook Pro and the new 16” MacBook Pro, where you can just hear more with the new 16”’s speakers, so that’s great!

The addition of the rubber seals means that sound is less likely to escape

But what makes the AirPods Pro sound even better now is the fact that they’re now finally in-ear headphones. They now have a rubber seal, which is something that you can find on pretty much any other pair of headphones on the market right now, which helps seal the sound coming from the AirPods, so that pretty much no sound escapes. You can pretty much say goodbye to people around you hearing everything that you listen to, at least on medium volume. But, this seal also improves the sound quality simply by the fact that less sound escapes from your ear.

More about that eartip once I get to the comfortability section of the video, but there is one more feature that improves the sound quality, and that is the Active Noise Cancellation. So like I said before, the ear tips help to prevent sound escaping from your ear, but at the same time they also help prevent external ambient sound from entering your ear. Overall, they do offer a passive noise cancellation on their own, but Apple’s added Active Noise Cancellation makes it even better. The way it works is that the AirPods Pro now have an outward facing microphone which is this long black grill on the stem which picks up all the ambient noise around you and then the AirPods themselves emit a counter noise of opposite frequency that cancels out the background noise.

I wasn’t sure how well this would work when I heard about it, but it works much better than I expected. If you’re in a place where there’s a lot of the same consistent noise, such as on a bus, a train, a plane, it’s very easy for the AirPods Pro to cancel out that background noise, since it can predict the pattern that’s coming up next. However, when it comes to cancelling out voices or unexpected sounds that don’t have a pattern, you’ll still be able to hear them, just not as loud. But I can definitely say that when I’m waking on the street and I have my AirPods Pro in, with Noise Cancelling on, it just immerses me so much in the music or the podcast that I’m listening to. It’s a world apart from the regular AirPods and even when I’m outdoors it sounds like I’m still in my bedroom with zero background noise.

The three new modes for the AirPods Pro allow you to control how much noise cancellation you want to have

Now, some of you might be like, “oh, well , we actually preferred the regular AirPods, since you can still hear your surroundings, rather than being cut out from the world entirely”, and I agree, I’m actually like that as well. But the good news is that you can still do that. You can actually turn off Noise Cancelling mode and just have the passive noise cancelling, but if that’s not enough and you want that regular AirPods open back feel to them, you can actually enable a third mode called Transparency Mode. What this does is that it uses the external microphones I talked about before, to literally let background audio in this time, so that you can hear everything that’s happening around you. To be fair, it’s pretty amazing! It’s not as open backed as the regular AirPods were, but it’s very close. My slight issue with it is that you can hear some distortion since the sound is picked up by the microphone rather than your ear, so you do feel like a cyborg in a way.

But to give you an example of how useful Transparency Mode is, I was able to go into a store, order some food and speak to the store assistant without even removing my AirPods Pro. I had them in my ear and I just held the side button which switches between Noise Cancelling and Transparency mode, and I was easily able to hear what the other person was saying, and when the conversation was done, I just re-enabled Noise Cancelling and boom, I was in my own world again. It was just amazing, this is something we do not have on any other headphones on the market right now, and it’s actually my favourite feature in a product of this year.

COMFORTABILITY

So as important as sound quality is, if a pair of in-ear headphones are not comfortable to wear they are near useless. So how comfy are the AirPods Pro?

Well, surprisingly, they’re more comfortable than the original AirPods, thanks to the silicone eartips. With these they just float in your ears so nicely, and they also fit so much better than the regular AirPods did, so that’s great!

Now when you open up the box you actually get three different pair of eartips; small, medium and large, with the medium ones pre-installed. This is something that you get with pretty much every single pair of in-ear headphones, but what’s unique about Apple’s eartips is that they have a brand new attaching mechanism. This means that they are extremely difficult to remove, to the point where I actually though that I was going to break them, but they are extremely easy to put back on, as they just click in place. The downside of this first party fitting mechanism is that you have to use Apple’s own eartips, which are good, but I would’ve loved to have the option to test some foam eartips as well, that expand in your ear and provide and even better seal. I’m pretty sure that third party manufactures will start selling those at some point, but until then you have to stick to Apple’s own eartips.

The Ear Tip Test lets you know if the tips you have attached are the right ones for your ears

Now, when you buy any other in-ear headphones, you need to try multiple eartips for each of your ears and see which ones fit best, which is fine. But the AirPods Pro have this really amazing feature where, they will emit some sound and tell you in the setup process itself, if you have a good fit or not. This is thanks to the external microphone which is able to pick up the amount of sound that escapes from your ear and if that amount exceeds a certain level, it will tell you to change the eartip. Nice!

Also, one of the main complaints that some people had with in-ear headphones is that some of them isolate so well, that they create this pressure in your ear canal and they actually hurt. But, I’m glad to say that the AirPods Pro do not have this issues, and that’s because the top grill is actually an air vent that helps equalise the pressure. I have to say, it’s not as good as not having overheads that don’t go in your ear, or even the regular AirPods, as you’ll still feel a bit of pressure but nowhere near as much as you would with any other in-ear headphones. So I really do like that.

So overall, they’re definitely more comfortable than the original AirPods, just with a tiny bit more air pressure, especially when Active Noise Cancelling is enabled.

BATTERY LIFE

Ok, pretty good so far! Great sound quality, great comfortability so now, how’s the battery life?

Well, it’s similar to the regular AirPods, as in we get 24 hours with the charging case on both, but the battery life on the AirPods themselves is a bit different. So rather than five hours like we get with the regular AirPods, we get four and a half hours with the AirPods Pro. But this is actually with Noise Cancelling turned on. If you turn it off, you would get five hours, which is the same as before. However, we do get up to three and a half hours of talk time compared to three hours on the regular AirPods, so talk time has actually been improved.

But I do have two small complaints in terms of the battery life. The first one being that they still have a lightning port, and I do get why, because the iPhone 11 Pro’s still have a lightning port. But the MacBook’s have USB C, the iPad Pro also has USB C, and USB C isn’t even the future anymore, it’s the present! If Apple does finally switch to USB C next year, the AirPods Pro would be the only one that would be left behind. So, that’s quite inconvenient.

Also, whilst they do support wireless charging, which is great, the iPhone 11 Pro max does not support reverse wireless charging like the Samsung Galaxy S and Note series, or Huawei phones do, meaning that you cannot charge them from the back of the iPhone, like you can with Samsung’s Galaxy Buds or even the AirPods Pro, if you do have a Samsung phone. But that is more of a complaint towards the iPhone 11 Pro’s, not necessarily the AirPods Pro themselves.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Now, what special features do the AirPods Pro have that make them stand out from the competition, I hear you ask?

Well, aside from things such as the Transparency mode and the vent and the EarTip test, which are all unique to the AirPods Pro, we do get quite a few new special features.

First, they’re sweat and water resistant now with an IPX4 rating. Unfortunately, this means that you can’t swim with them in, but if you’re outdoors running and it’s raining these would last fine, whereas the previous AirPods might have broken. Also if you do go to the gym, these are now even better thanks to the sweat resistance and the added rubber seals, which make them stay in place unlike the original AirPods.

Secondly, we have the Hey Siri support. This is something that the AirPods 2 came with, which were introduced back in March 2019. But it’s pretty awesome being able to just say the Siri command and play any song that you want, read messages, news, do anything that you would do with Siri on your iPhone, without having to take your phone out of the pocket. This is extremely useful when you’re running outdoors.

The small indentation seen here is the new control button for the AirPods Pro

Thirdly, you do have a brand new control button. So before, with the regular AirPods, you had to double tap on the stem in order for the accelerometer to detect the tap, which was quite bad because most of the times it didn’t work. With the AirPods Pro, we have a long button which you have to physically hold and then press. Then if you press it once you play or pause a song, if you press it twice you swipe forward, press it three times to skip backwards and then you press and hold to switch between Active Noise Cancelling and Transparency Mode. Also, something quite cool is that when you tap on the control button, you can feel and hear it click but it doesn’t move at all. Instead, the AirPods Pro create this sound that mimics a click.

Overall, it’s definitely an improved control system over the original AirPods, but I would’ve loved to see a volume control. You see, every time I need to change the volume, I have to either take my phone out to do it, or ask Siri which is awkward if you’re in a public space, or use the Apple Watch which does work very well but you need to have an Apple Watch as well in that case.

Then finally, what I consider to be the best special feature about the AirPods Pro is the Apple ecosystem. You just open up the lid and they instantly connect to your iPhone, and then you can easily switch to using them on your iPad, your Mac, your Apple Watch, your Apple TV, pretty much any Apple product and that’s just amazing! Now, I have had issues in terms of connecting to my Mac, which is something that I’ve had issues with with the previous AirPods as well. So while iOS connection is very smooth, connecting and switching to a Mac still has some occasional glitches. You can indeed connect them to any other non-Apple product as well, Android phones, Windows laptop and any other smartTV that has Bluetooth.

However, I would say to not buy these if you don’t have a least one Apple product you plan on using them with, because outside of the Apple ecosystem, the volume is extremely low on these for some reason, and the equaliser is all gone so they don’t sound as good. Noise Cancelling does work but you lose many of the Apple functionality like auto-play and pause when you put them in your ears and take them out.

DESIGN

Now, if a pair of headphones has nailed all of these categories, which the AirPods Pro have, then the last thing aside from the value that I care about, is the design.

A design comparison between the AirPods Pro (Left) and the original AirPods (Right)

Well, first off these are very different from the original AirPods design wise. They’re now short and fat, compared to long and thin, but they still have the same AirPods look where they just look odd and unlike anything else on the market right now. This means that they will definitely stand out in public, if that’s what you’re after. I personally don’t think they look bad, just unusual.

The same goes for the case itself, it’s short and fat compared to long and thin like the previous one was. It is noticeably wider, but at the same time it now opens horizontally, rather than vertically. So, if you put both of them side by side, vertically, there isn’t that much of a difference between the two. The Pro case is thicker and taller but it still fits in my pocket so I’m fine with that. It’s still noticeably smaller than any other wireless headphones case on the market, including the Galaxy Buds which already has one of the smallest cases.

They come in the same glossy white plastic, but personally I would’ve loved to see these in matte black. I’m guessing Apple is keeping that for a special edition or something, so that they can sell more but until then we only have white.

VALUE

Then last, but not least, the value, are the AirPods Pro worth it? Well, at $250/£250 in the UK they are quite expensive. They are a very similar price to the Sony WF-1000XM3, which do sound better, but have a gigantic case which isn’t pocketable by any means. But if you have an Android phone then get the Sony’s and not the AirPods.

Otherwise, they’re a very good pair of headphones, definitely the best option for any Apple user. But if you already have a pair of AirPods, unless you have the 1st gen and the battery life is really bad, I wouldn’t suggest upgrading to the Pro’s.

But if you do have the original AirPods or a different pair of headphones and you plan on getting the AirPods Pro, you won’t be disappointed in any way.

AirPods Pro - Unboxing, Noise Cancelling, Sound Test & More!

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Yesterday we put out our 20 things you didn’t know article and video, explaining all the things you may not have known about the latest addition to the AirPods line-up, and today we have the AirPods Pro in the studio!

So grab those snacks and drinks and check out my live reaction and unboxing in the video above and have a read of three things I wanted to try out first on the AirPods Pro!

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COMFORTABILITY

First things first, you can definitely feel them in your ears, so they’re nothing like Apple mentioned where you wouldn’t even notice them thanks to the new vent. You’ll definitely notice them right away, I can tell you that. 

Between the AirPods and the AirPods Pro, the Pros are a bit more comfortable, but that’s mainly because of the smaller size, so you don’t really feel the long foot touching your ear. Also, since they do have the rubber seals, they do secure far better than the regular AirPods do.

By taking the Ear Tip test you can see if you have the right rubber seal in

Inside the box you get three sizes of rubber seals; small, medium and large, but they all come with the medium ones pre-installed. I found that the medium ones work best for me, but here’s a Pro tip, once you pair the AirPods with your iPhone you can go into the bluetooth settings and then tap on the i icon, of your AirPods Pro’s and then you get into a menu which allows you to do an Ear Tip Fit Test so you can get the right size. What this does is that it will play a sound and the outwards facing microphone will read how much of that sound escapes from your ear. And if that’s too much, it will give you a message that you need to try a different size ear tip. 

I haven’t seen any other earphones that can do this, so props to Apple for implementing such a system.
Speaking of system, there’s a weird proprietary system of mounting the rubber ear tips. To remove them you have to pull really hard to the point where you think you’re about to break them. However, putting them on is very easy as they just click into place. 

ACTIVE NOISE CANCELLATION

So the biggest new feature that you get with the AirPods Pro’s is of course, noise cancellation. Now this is done both passive and well as actively. It’s done passive via the silicone ear tips that I mentioned before and then actively in a pretty smart way. The three microphones detect the background noise and then the AirPods themselves emit a sound of an opposite frequency in order to eliminate that background noise.

And it actually works extremely well, at least for in-ear earbuds. I mean they’re not as good as actual over the head noise cancelling headphones would be, but still I was very impressed with how well this worked. 

If you go to your volume option, with the AirPods Pro in, you will get the options to switch between the three options.

Now if you force touch on the Volume bar on your iPhone once they’ve been paired, you can switch between these three modes; Noise Cancellation, then Off and then Transparency mode. Think of this as the level of background noise that’s removed. So when transparency mode is on, the microphones will actually transmit the audio from the outside, back into your ears, in order to re-create that feeling of open-back headphones that the original AirPods had. And it’s not quite the same thing but it’s still pretty impressive. It’s in between in-ear headphones and the original AirPods. Then the off mode, is very similar to regular in-ear headphones where the seal is created by the silicone ear tips and then finally noise cancellation is the one where the AirPods will try to remove as much background noise as they can.

Now, when noise cancelling is on, they do give you that feeling of having a lot of air pressure inside your ears. Basically the same feeling that you get when you’re in a plane. But once I disable noise cancelling or turn on Transparency mode, that feeling is pretty much entirely gone. So I do find them a bit uncomfortable because of this feeling when I’m using noise cancellation, guess it will just take me a while getting use to it.

You also have that pressure sensitive button which is really cool! You see, it’s not really a physical button, it’s just a capacitive touch pad. However when you press it the AirPods Pro’s will actually make this clicking sound to give you the impression that it actually clicks!

And from there you have the three commands that I’ve mentioned before; tap once to pause, double tap to skip to the next song and triple tap to go to the previous song. And if you hold that bar, you can switch between the Noise Cancelling Mode and the Transparency mode, and you can also add an Off mode by going into the bluetooth menu options. 

You can even ask Siri to turn on an off Noise Cancelling or Transparency Mode, so that works as well, alongside the ability to invoke Siri by saying the ‘Hey Siri’ command.

SOUND QUALITY

Finally, when it comes to the actual sound quality, it’s pretty good! It’s much better than the original AirPods, the bass is stronger, the voice is clearer.

But the original AirPods weren’t that well known for their sound quality anyway. So if those were a 6/10, these are probably about a 9. They’re a noticeable upgrade, but that’s mostly due to the noise cancellation which removes all the background noise so that you can focus on your music. So that’s pretty much what makes them sound so much better than the original AirPods did.

There is no real point in getting the AirPods Pro if you have an Android device as the sound quality is much poorer

And as a conclusion, I love them. It’s pretty amazing having active noise cancelling earbuds that are this small. The Sony ones are very good as well, but the charging case is just gigantic. 

Also, if you have an Android phone just forget about getting these because the volume would be unbearably low. 

Other than that, they’re great and a huge step up from the original AirPods. But are they £250 / $250 good? Not fully sure just yet, a few more days of testing and I will have a verdict for you.

AirPods Pro - 20 Things You Didn't Know!

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So just as we were finishing up a video on the final leaks and rumors on the AirPods Pro, Apple went and released them!

So instead of that article and video, here are 20 things you didn’t know about the newest in-ear headphones from Apple.

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1. AIRPODS PRO DIMENSIONS

The new AirPods will feature the biggest design change since the original AirPods that came out in 2016. According to Apple the new AirPods are 30.9mm tall and 21.8mm wide. When you compare this to the original AirPods, which were 40.5mm tall and 16.5mm wide, you get the idea of how different these will look. Picture them like Borat and Azamat, Google them and you will get the idea.

2. CASE DIFFERENCES

But it is not just the AirPods themselves that have had a design change, the case has received one too. Taking a look at its dimensions compared to the original AirPods case we can see that it is going to shorter but wider, like the AirPods Pro themselves, but also thicker as well.

The case dimensions of the AirPods Pro compared to the AirPods

• Original AirPods Case: 53.5mm x 44.3mm x 21.3mm

• AirPods Pro Case: 45.2mm x 60.6mm x 21.7mm

This means that the case will take up more space in your pocket, which I am kind of upset about. I loved how small and portable the regular AirPods case was, and I was expecting something thinner and more portable, but it seems like were not getting that with the AirPods Pro.

3. ACTIVE NOISE CANCELLATION

This is the main new feature of the AirPods Pro. How active noise cancellation works is that the AirPod has an outward facing microphone which detects external sounds and the AirPod will emit an equal noise of an opposite frequency to eliminate that noise.

On the AirPods Pro this will continuously be adjusted at 200 times a second, and with the new rubber seals this should make for a great listening experience.

4. RUBBER SEALS

As I mentioned in the previous section, the AirPods Pro will come with rubber seals, like we get on many other in-ear headphones. This is another change from the current and original AirPods, which are a single piece of glossy plastic.

There will be three different sizes; small, medium, and large, so these should fit everyone’s ear and I am certainly curious to try these out.

5. TRANSPARENCY MODE

Now while we do have noise cancellation and rubber seals to make the listening experience more immersive, I did like being able to hear what was going on around me with the original AirPods. However, we get a ‘Transparency Mode’ with the AirPods Pro which is activated by pressing and holding on a new pressure sensor. What this will do is actually let the noise in from the microphone that works for the noise cancellation in real time! Pretty cool stuff!

6. NEW CONTROLS

Speaking of the new pressure sensor, it can actually do more than just switch on and off the microphone for Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency Mode.

You see on the original AirPods you would double tap and that would be the only control, you could customise the double tap for each AirPod in the settings, and have double tap on the right AirPod to skip to the next song and double tap on the left one to go to the previous song. That’s how I had it.

Then with the second generation we got the ‘Hey Siri’ command to summon her, which worked brilliantly.

And with the AirPods Pro you can now press on that force sensor once to play a song, pause or answer a call. You can tap twice to skip forward and tap three times to skip backwards, and then hold to switch between the Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency Modes that I talked about before.

7. VENTS

The air-vents that have been put on the sides are there to help equalise the pressure so that you don’t really feel the AirPods in your ears. According to Apple you’ll feel like there’s nothing in your ear, but I am very sceptical that this will be the case but its another thing I am interested to check out.

8. WATER RESISTANCE

I use that heading quite loosely. The AirPods Pro will be IPX4 rated, so that means that they can deal with splashes of water, but they will have no dust resistance at all. So definitely do not take these swimming as they will not hold up. However they would be perfect for use in the gym or even out on a run when its raining.

Its also important to note that the case itself is not water resistant at all, so keep that in mind.

9. APPLE WATCH SUPPORT

So whilst there is support for these on the Apple Watches, there is no support on the original Apple Watch. If you are planning to get these make sure that you have a more recent model of the Apple Watch to ensure you are getting the most out of the pairing. If you do have an original Apple Watch then you will need to use the original AirPods that came out in 2016, as the second gen are not supported on it either.

10. SUPPORTED DEVICES

On the subject of support and no support here is a full list of devices that the AirPods Pro will be supported on:

• iPhone SE, 6S and newer

• iPad Mini 4, iPad Air 2 and newer

• iPod Touch 7th Gen from 2019

• Apple Watch Series 1 and newer

• Apple TV 4K and Apple TV HD

• Mac Pro from 2013 and newer

• Mac Mini from 2012 and newer

• iMac from 2012 and newer

• MacBook Pro from 2012 and newer

11. USB-C CABLE

In the box with the AirPods Pro we will be getting a USB-C to lightning cable as the AirPods Pro will still have a lightning port on the bottom of the case, but at least the cable itself is now the same one as we get on with the iPhone 11 Pro’s

12. LIVE LISTEN

This is slightly different to the Transparency Mode I mentioned earlier as this is actually an Accessibility Feature, which also works on the regular AirPods too in case you didn’t know. What this feature does is play back audio to you in real time from the microphone, so would certainly be a useful feature for people who may have trouble hearing.

13. WORSE BATTERY LIFE

So although we do get those new feature I mentioned earlier, this does in fact impact the battery life of the new AirPods. The regular AirPods gave 5 hours on each AirPod, and up to 24 hours using the case, whereas the AirPods Pro will have 4 and a half hours each, and up to 24 hours using the case.

However, if you turn off Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency Mode, you can get 5 hours of playback in the AirPods Pro.

14. FASTER CHARGE

With the original AirPods, you could get 3 hours of playback and 2 hours of talk time off a 15 minute charge, whereas with the Pros we get 1 hour of playback and 1 hour of talk time off a 5 minute charge. With that in mind we can estimate that you should get 3 hours of playback and 3 hours of talk time with a 15 minute charge. So a slight increase, but whether or not this turns out to be true is another matter.

15. TRIPLE MICROPHONES

A breakdown of the AirPods Pro showing the inward facing microphone

The original AirPods also came with two beamforming microphones, which the Pros also come with. However the Pro also comes with an additional third microphone. It is likely that this is the microphone for Active Noise Cancellation, but it seems odd to have that as an inward facing microphone as it should be taking noise from the surrounding area.

16. SOUND QUALITY

When it comes to sound quality, the AirPods were okay. But with an adaptive EQ, the vent system for pressure equalising, custom high-excursion Apple driver, custom higher dynamic range amplifier, Active Noise Cancellation, and sealed ear tips, the Pros might just have the best sounding wireless headphones on the market! We will of course test them out though to make sure.

17. WIRELESS CHARGING

Whats good to see is that we are getting a free wireless charging case in the box with the AirPods Pro, whereas you would have to pay $40 extra to get this with the regular AirPods.

18. VERSUS AIRPODS

So compared to the AirPods 2 that came out in 2019, are these worth it? Well, the AirPods 2 cost $200 and these cost $250, so if you’re already paying $200 for the AirPods and another $40 for the wireless charging case, you might as well just pay $50 and get the Pro’s as these are a much bigger upgrade.

However, if you don’t want the Pro’s, then the regular AirPods at $160 are very good already. Aside from wireless charging you don’t miss out on anything. You even have the same Apple H1 processor that the AirPods Pro already have.

19. VERSUS POWER BEATS PRO

But the big question here is, how do they compare with the PowerBeats Pro?
You see Beats are owned by Apple, so the PowerBeats Pro, which are their newest model, are the closest thing to the AirPods Pro and they’re also made by Apple

The PowerBeats Pro seem to be focused even more towards fitness users. They have an over the ear clasp that helps them stay secure. They have the H1 processor as well, just like the AirPods and the AirPods Pro, so they will automatically connect to your iPhone and other Apple devices. ‘Hey Siri’ is also supported and the battery life is actually better with up to 9 hours on each earbud and over 24 hours with the case. 
Water resistance is also there, but there is no official rating it seems, just a mention.

In addition they cost $200 compared to the $250 of the AirPods Pro, so they look like a better option, right?

Well, they kind of are. Sound quality should be better with the AirPods Pro, since there’s much more talk about it on Apple’s website, whereas the PowerBeats Pro are focused more towards fitness and use during workouts. Also their case is much bigger than the AirPods Pro case.

20. APPLE PUSHING AIRPODS

And the last section in this article is about Apple pushing the AirPods Pro. If you go over to the Apple website you will see the Pros promoted on almost every single Apple product page that they have. They’re featured in the iPad tab, the iPhone tab, the Apple Watch tab, the TV tab, and the Music tab.

CONCLUSION

So there you have it. 20 things you didn’t know about Apple latest product announcement. It is likely that we will hear more from Apple in the coming days regarding other product releases, but make sure to stay up to date with the channel and our articles to find out how the AirPods Pros really are!