Why AirPods Pro is worth buying now, before the release of iOS 18

In May of this year, I upgraded my old headphones to the second generation AirPods Pro. To be honest, before purchasing, I doubted whether it was worth spending the money, because the previous firmware still worked and played music.

But after the purchase and the first minutes of use, all the advice disappeared: I heard a sound as if all the time up until that moment they had been using Chinese plugs for 200 rubles from a kiosk in the underground passage.

A month later, at WWDC 24, Apple introduced the new iOS 18 (which is already on my iPhone), and I’m looking forward to the official release of this operating system, because with its release my AirPods Pro 2 will turn from excellent headphones to truly great ones.

And here are 5 reasons why this will happen:

1. Head gesture support.

Apple is going to add new head gestures to iOS 18 that are better for controlling AirPods Pro without using your hands or voice.

With the new gestures, you can shake your head sideways and nod up and down to answer or reject a call.

You can also use your head to communicate with Siri to see or reject calls, communicate with messages, manage notifications, and much more.

2. Voice isolation

iPhone has a feature that can make your voice clearer to the other person during a call, even if you are in a noisy environment. In iOS 18, Apple added voice isolation to AirPods Pro so that the headphones themselves recognize loud background sounds using Apple Intelligence.

When you’re on a call, the AirPods Pro’s microphones typically pick up a wide range of ambient sounds, such as the sound of the wind around the caller. With these features, iOS 18’s built-in AI will play sounds, block out any ambient noise, and bring your voice to the foreground so it sounds as clear as possible to the other person.

3. Spatial audio for gaming

Personalized spatial audio with active voice tracking will be available for gaming on 3rd generation AirPods, AirPods Pro and AirPods Max, delivering an immersive audio experience. Now such a function can be activated while listening to music or watching movies and shows.

Apple says that when using AirPods Pro, gamers will experience minimal audio latency during gaming sessions on their iPhone. AirPods Pro owners can also enjoy enhanced voice quality, including 16-bit 48kHz audio, when communicating with teammates and other players.

In addition, game developers can customize spatial audio effects in their games for a more immersive gaming experience. That is, in a conditional Call of Duty you can actually hear from which side a potential enemy is sneaking up or shooting. Can not wait.

4. Fine-tuning adaptive sound only for AirPods Pro 2.

The second-generation AirPods Pro feature a reduced Adaptive Audio feature called Adaptive Noise Control, which adjusts sound and active noise cancellation in response to changes in background noise around them.

Now this function works quite unpredictably, as our reader complained about relatively recently. But in iOS 18, a separate settings menu for functions appears, in which you can configure the parameters of adaptive noise reduction, in particular, set the noise level at which this function will start working.

This setting will only be available to owners of AirPods Pro 2. So there is a reason to upgrade if you are still using first-generation firmware.

5. Hearing aid mode

This feature has not yet been officially confirmed, but renowned insider Mark Gurman of Bloomberg claims that AirPods Pro are creating a new “hearing aid mode” with the release of iOS 18.

It sounds true that the Pros now have a Conversation Boost feature that increases the volume and clarity of conversations between people directly in front of the user, essentially acting as a hearing aid. However, at the moment, Apple does not compare its headphones to this phone anywhere.

Apple, make AirPods great again!

Five new features will be available in AirPods Pro (and one only in second-generation firmware) in the fall. So you still have a little time to get these headphones in advance. Even if something is not included in the iOS 18 release, you will still get at least excellent sound that will reveal your favorite tracks in a completely new way.

I guarantee this because I enjoy my AirPods Pro 2 every day now.