This year, Apple’s annual launch event was held in September as scheduled, and in addition to the updates to the phone and watch product lines, the second generation update of AirPods Pro, which has been the most popular TWS product line, has also received a lot of attention. In addition to Apple, another high-end TWS that has received a lot of attention from users has also received an upgrade this year, and it is the Huawei FreeBuds Pro 2, which was released by Huawei at the HarmonyOS 3 full-scene launch in July this year.
The AirPods Pro 2 and FreeBuds Pro 2 were released less than two months apart, so naturally, many users looking for a flagship TWS headset will want to compare the two products and choose a flagship TWS headset that suits their needs.
Perhaps the most talked about part of the AirPods 2 experience is the seamless connectivity within the Apple device ecosystem: after all devices are updated to the latest software version, AirPods Pro 2 is able to keep multiple devices connected at the same time, and switch the primary connection to the device currently playing audio when audio is detected on a device, dramatically increasing frequency and ease of use of the headphones.
AirPods 2’s experience of fusing devices within the ecosystem definitely pointed the way for the evolution of the next-generation TWS experience at the time. Domestic cell phone manufacturers, who were also building their own device collaboration experience, also added similar features to their new products later.
Of course, such a seamless multi-device switching experience is also very good on Huawei FreeBuds Pro 2. The company’s new FreeBuds Pro 2 is also a great way to share the same moment with friends by supporting two pairs of Huawei FreeBuds Pro 2 connected to the same Huawei phone or Huawei Pad at the same time.
Such a deep ecological adaptation is also a test of a manufacturer’s ability to optimize the ecosystem. Even if we look at the world, Huawei and Apple are probably one of the few manufacturers that can make this part of the experience truly senseless and easy to use. After the Hong Meng 3.0 system is fully updated, this device flow experience can also be more smooth and more senseless; back home automatically switch the audio to speakers, TV and other more use scenarios.
The AirPods Pro 2 is equipped with a new custom driver and amplifier with a more powerful H2 chip, which significantly improves the low-frequency dive and high-frequency listening experience as well as the noise-canceling experience. The Adaptive Noise Cancellation mode also significantly reduces noise in noisy environments.
Another unique hardware update to AirPods Pro 2 is the unique feature of the anti-loss design: for example, the lanyard hole on top of the charging compartment and the self-contained speaker make TWS less likely to be lost in actual use. These improvements can be said to be practical improvements that Apple added to the second generation of the product after accumulating many lessons from users who lost their AirPods.
The downside is that the AirPodsPro 2 still uses a slightly older AAC audio protocol, and does not even support Apple’s own Apple Music lossless audio playback, as a flagship TWS headphones, the improvement in the audio part is quite obvious, but also has a rather regrettable trade-off for music lovers.
In the FreeBuds Pro2, Huawei also made a lot of innovation in the audio hardware part, while compared to Apple’s investment in computing audio, Huawei FreeBuds Pro2 in the sound generation unit components on the enhancement is more obvious, the headset internal first integrated super-sensitive acoustic dual unit: four magnets large driving force dynamic unit, micro flat tweeter. Let FreeBuds Pro 2 itself in the audio details of the performance has been quite outstanding, and a host of other TWS headphones to open the gap.
In the codec protocol section, Huawei FreeBuds Pro 2 supports LDAC™ HD audio codec protocol, with an audio transmission rate of up to 990kbps and a sampling rate and bit depth of 96kHz/24bit, effectively reducing audio delays and damage during audio transmission, allowing for excellent overall music detail and presenting high fidelity sound quality. It is worth mentioning that Huawei FreeBuds Pro 2 has also been awarded the HWA / Hi-Res AudioWireless Gold Standard certification for its outstanding acoustic performance, bringing consumers a purer and more thumping listening experience.
After years of development, now look at the entire TWS true wireless headset market, TWS this field has entered a bottleneck on innovation. The most obvious feature is that more and more true wireless headphones are beginning to adopt the same design and features, and it is difficult for ordinary users to distinguish which headphones are really in line with their own needs.
In this industry context, the further exploration of TWS true wireless headphones has long been out of the framework of the carrier itself, through closer integration with more ecological devices, so that TWS really assist other devices to use a more intelligent experience, these are the main theme of TWS innovation at this stage, but also one of the most difficult part.
AirPods Pro 2 is still one of the strongest TWS headphones in this field; however, the excellent experience also requires the user to be a user of the “Apple device family”. For the domestic flagship TWS, the previous biggest shortcoming – the experience advantage of AirPods Pro within the Apple ecosystem – is also being gradually complemented by the domestic flagship TWS headphones represented by Huawei FreeBudsPro 2, and gradually find their own unique positioning within their own ecosystem.
From a comprehensive perspective, Huawei and Apple are both manufacturers that have been working in their own comprehensive ecology for years and have accumulated a lot of functional updates in actual use scenarios, and both have their own distinct focus on creating a more practical TWS experience for users in their respective ecologies. We can say that both TWS headphones are worth getting, and which one is more suitable for you will depend on your device and usage needs, so just buy as needed.
