It seems like the AirPods 3 aren’t the only pair of wireless earbuds Apple is set to launch this year, as the rumored Beats Fit Pro wireless earbuds may not be too far behind.
And with the eventual existence of the AirPods Pro 2 still up in the air (we heard nothing of them during the October 18 Apple Unleashed event), we’re now looking towards Apple’s Beats lineup that could well launch sometime in November.
While we’re certainly expecting an AirPods Pro follow-up in the near future, especially after this recent price leak, fans looking to buy a potentially cheaper pair of noise-cancelling wireless earbuds before then will likely want to read on about the Beats Fit Pro.
Here’s everything we know so far about the Beats Fit Pro, including price, release date, rumors, as well as what we’d love to see.
Beats Fit Pro: cut to the chase
What are they? A rumored new pair of earbuds in the Beats rangeWhen will they be released? Rumored to be early November, 2021How much will they cost? Likely just over $149.99 / £129.99 / AU$199.95, the price of the Beats Studio Buds
Beats Fit Pro price and release date
A recent report by 9to5Mac suggests that the Beats Fit Pro will be announced in the first week of November, likely between November 1 – 5, and shipments will follow soon after, meaning we should be able to get our hands on these new (as of yet unofficially announced) wireless earbuds fairly soon.
In terms of price, there’s nothing set in stone for the Beats Fit Pro just yet. However, we expect they will land in the price range of their predecessors, the Beats Studio Buds, at $149.99 / £129.99 / AU$199.95 – or perhaps just over that sum given the reported inclusion of Apple’s advanced H1 chip.
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Beats Fit Pro rumors and details
Apple’s H1 chip included
According to the 9to5Mac exclusive report linked above, the Beats Fit Pro will be powered by Apple’s H1 chip, which would allow for voice assistant integration with Siri, faster pairing with devices and – best of all – better active noise cancellation, which would certainly be a boon after the Beats Studio Buds’ middling effort with the feature.
Battery life
The Beats Fit Pro wireless earbuds are said to pack six hours of battery life with active noise cancellation (ANC) enabled, which stretches to seven hours if you opt to enable Adaptive EQ instead.
Combined with the charging case, the Beats Fit Pro wireless earbuds will apparently deliver between 27 and 30 hours of battery life. That’s roughly the same as the AirPods 3 and about standard for the best wireless earbuds you can buy.
Explaining the ‘fit’ in ‘[Beats Fit Pro’
According to 9to5Mac, the Beats Fit Pro true wireless earbuds will feature built-in accelerometers that help to “identify and reduce external noise”. The immediately apparent application of this tech would be to dim outside noises like vehicles and gusts of wind to keep your voice clear and understandable while making calls.
We’re predicting that the Beats Fit Pro will be posited as a pair of running headphones, not least of all because of the name, but also because of the built-in accelerometers, which might be used to measure and record your workout sessions, which could then be transferred to an app.
The physical design of the earbuds is another aspect that makes us think they’ll be marketed as ideal for exercise. The winged tips differentiate the pair from the Beats Studio Buds, and look to be designed in such a way to prevent them slipping or falling from your ears while you’re out on a run or at the gym, for example.
Beats Fit Pro: what we want to see
Better active noise cancellation
We certainly liked the Beats Studio Buds when we reviewed the pair earlier this year, but it left some things to be desired for future Beats products. One of those features that slightly let us down was the earbuds’ active noise cancelling, which was far from the best implementation we’ve heard.
ANC got the job done in the Beats Studio Buds, but it wasn’t quite up to par with class leaders like the AirPods Pro or Sony WF-1000XM4 true wireless earbuds. Granted, both examples are a good deal pricier than the Beats Studio Buds (as well as what we expect the Beats Fit Pro to retail at), but we’d love to see an improvement in this area especially.
Better battery life
With a 20-hours battery life (including the charging case), the Beats Studio Buds fell short of what we expect the best true wireless earbuds to offer, behind even budget earbuds like the Honor Earbuds 2 Lite.
We hope the reports of 30 hours of battery life are true, because that would be a significant boost over the Beats Fit Pro’s predecessor, especially if an individual charge can push up to seven hours, making them usable for a greater portion of your day.
Higher call quality
Given the potential inclusion of accelerometers in the Beats Fit Pro, we’d like to think that call quality overall will be much higher than what we had in the Beats Studio Buds. Accelerometers should help to filter out more aggressive noises like passing traffic and blustery winds, which should hopefully allow your voice to be picked up clearer on phone calls.
