For Black Friday, Amazon is offering the 2nd gen Apple AirPods Pro truly wireless noise cancelling earbuds with the universal USB Type-C connector for only $189.99. That's a $60 price drop from its $249 MSRP and matches the best price we've seen in the past.
Black Friday Deal: Apple AirPods Pro with USB for $189.99
The new AirPods Pro is still called a "2nd gen" model, but with one key update. Apple has replaced the proprietary Lightning port with the more universal USB Type-C. For people who want to bring along a single charging cable for all of their mobile devices, this is a godsend. Other small upgrades include dust resistance and lossless audio support when paired with Apple’s upcoming and massively expensive Vision Pro headset.
The Apple AirPods Pro is one of the best sounding "truly wireless" earbuds you'll find, especially at this price point. "Truly wireless" earbuds have no wires whatsoever, even to each other. Aside from the more expensive and bulkier Max, the Pro is the only Airpods with active noise cancelling technology. If there are moments where noise cancellation might be a hindrance, the AirPods Pro features an "Adaptive Transparency Mode," which amplifies ambient sound so that you can better hear your surroundings.
The 2nd generation model has several incremental upgrades over the 1st gen. The biggest improvement is the new Apple H2 chip, which combined with a refined low distortion driver and amp offer better audio quality than the standard AirPods. Other upgrades include Bluetooth 5.3, more ear tip sizes, "Find My" support, capacitive touch sensors on the earbuds, and skin detection sensors that reduce the chances of the AirPods Pro accidentally turning on.
AirPods Pro vs AirPods (3rd Gen)
At this price, the AirPods Pro cost only $50 more than the Apple AirPods (3rd gen), which is also on sale for Black Friday. The improvements easily justify the price premium.
The AirPods Pro feature active (and passive) noise isolation
The AirPods Pro has a key feature that the AirPods do not have, and that is active noise cancellation. Being able to isolate the background noise while listening to your music is an absolute game changer.
The AirPods Pro feature a better fit
This one's another obvious win for the AirPods Pro. The AirPods Pro have replaceable silicone ear tips that can be swapped out for different sizes depending on your ear. They also fit snugly in your ear to help create the proper seal for the noise cancellation to work optimally. The AirPods, on the other hand, have no adjustable eartips at all. They rest on the outer rim of your ear and don't stay in place as well.
The AirPods Pro features better sound quality
Simply put, for very good sound, you need good noise isolation. Even if you don't factor in the active noise cancellation, the AirPods Pro still offer better passive noise isolation than the AirPods because of the design of the eartips. The silicone tips do a great job of sealing off your ear from ambient noises, something that's simply not possible with the regular AirPods. With more sound leakage, you'll need to output a higher volume to compensate for all of the extraneous noise. Higher volume means you're less able to separate subtle variations in the audio track and you'll start introducing distortion. This is an easy win for the AirPods Pro.
Alternatively, consider the 2nd Gen AirPods for $79.99
If you're looking for a pair of Apple AirPods that work seamlessly with your iPhone, but you don't want to spend a lot of money and you don't need active noise cancellation, then this is the best Black Friday deal for you right now. As soon as you take the AirPods out of their case and put them in your ear, they'll be instantly and automatically paired with your iPhone. They support quick Siri access simply by saying "Hey Siri", and you can easily pause, play, and skip songs by double tapping either earbud. The battery life is a respectable 5 hours of listening time, and the charging case gives you over 24 additional hours. The charging case is quick charge compatible so just 15 minutes of charging will give your AirPods an additional 3 hours of listening time. For the price, you'd be hard pressed to find a better match for your iPhone.
Looking for more Black Friday deals like this? Check out our guide to Amazon Black Friday deals.
