Apple’s Powerbeats Pro 2 May Not Be A Major Upgrade

While some reports claim that Apple's Powerbeats Pro 2 is coming and will feature major upgrades compared to the first model, there is some evidence pointing indicating that it only comes with minor tweaks and that it could already be here.

Previous reports indicated that Apple is working on a new Powerbeats Pro model. The report comes from an FCC filing reported by TechRadar last month. The filing was for “Totally wireless high-performance earphones” with model numbers A2453 and A2454.

The regulatory documents were uploaded to the FCC alongside Apple's unveiling of the iPhone SE last month on April 15. While the filing did not reveal anything about the devices save for their model numbers, speculation about the new devices grew as the new models also acquired regulatory certification in other countries such as Malaysia and South Korea.

The FCC filing can be accessed online, but external and internal photos showing details about the device are inaccessible after Apple filed a request for confidentiality so that its competitors will not gain an “unfair market advantage.” That said, the FCC still made a copy of images showing where compliance markings will be placed on the devices (which are also illustrated) here.

The filing led some to believe that Apple will be releasing a next-gen Powerbeats Pro model with better features. MySmartPrice, for one, said it does “expect the product to come with improved sound quality and better battery life.”

Not next-gen

MacRumors, however, found evidence that the new Powerbeats Pro model, now unofficially called Powerbeats Pro 2, only features a “minor internal tweak to the existing models that will soon be or has already been quietly released without any announcement or changes to public-facing specs.”

The logic behind MacRumors' claim is seen in Apple's own Declaration of Conformity page that contains links to several Beats devices, which includes the Powerbeats Pro models with model numbers A2047, A2048, A2453 and A2454 – the first two numbers referring to the currently existing model, and the last two numbers referring to what people believe as the Powerbeats Pro 2.

All of these models have been listed together since April 15, the site claimed, suggesting that Cupertino could be considering all of them as current-gen models. This led MacRumors to believe that the new Powerbeats Pro models only contain minor tweaks, and that they might already be released to the market.