AirPods Pro 2: Apple’s latest TWS earbuds offer significantly lower Bluetooth latency than their predecessors
The original AirPods Pro offered significantly shorter Bluetooth latency than its competitors when they arrived a few years ago. However, the TWS market has moved on in the last three years, but it turns out that the AirPods Pro 2 continue where its predecessors left off. According to Stephen Coyle, the new Apple H2 chipset provides approximately a 17.6% latency reduction from the Apple H1 in the original AirPods Pro.
Specifically, the AirPods Pro 2 achieves an effective latency of 126 ms, 27 ms lower than the AirPods Pro and 170 ms less than the original AirPods. For reference, Coyle’s test methodology involves touching the display with an Apple Pencil and measuring how long it takes earbuds to play back the corresponding sound. Coyle adds that the Apple Pencil adds approximately 20 ms of latency itself, which is why his figures may be higher than manufacturer’s estimates.
Coyle adds that an iPad Pro’s built-in speakers took 83 ms to reproduce the same sound effect, representing a 34.1% faster latency than the AirPods Pro 2. Supposedly, Bluetooth latency of 126 ms remains audible, so Apple still has some room for improvement with future AirPods models. Still, a 17.6% latency reduction should help mobile gamers. Please see our AirPods Pro 2 launch article for more details about Apple’s latest TWS earbuds and how they differ from its predecessor.
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