Apple's Beats Go From Music to Fitness with the Heart Rate-Monitoring Powerbeats Pro 2
PPG sensor monitors the wearer's pulse rate and blood flow, while the audio side is upgraded with adaptive EQ and active noise cancelling.
Apple subsidiary Beats has announced the launch of its second-generation Powerbeats Pro in-ear headphones, bringing a key new feature to the fitness-focused wearables: heart rate monitoring.
"Powerbeats Pro 2 is the most impressive product in Beats' history," boasts Apple's Oliver Schusser, vice president for music, sports, and its Beats subsidiary acquired in 2014, "developed to withstand intense training sessions and equipped with our most innovative technology and powerful sound. Now with Heart Rate Monitoring for workouts, active noise cancellation, and transparency mode, Powerbeats Pro 2 sets a new standard in audio for fitness."
Beats as a brand has been synonymous with audio since its founding by music producer Dr. Dre and record executive Jimmy Iovine in 2006, though critical reviews often point to an emphasis of style over substance. In the years since its acquisition by Apple, though, things have begun to shift — and the Powerbeats Pro 2 marks a shift from simple headphones to fitness-focused wearables. Where the original Powerbeats Pro were simple, though rugged, true wireless stereo earbuds, their successors add something new: real-time heart rate monitoring.
Like the Apple Watch range, the heart rate monitor in the Powerbeats Pro 2 works on the principle of photoplethysmography — flashing LED lights at the wearer's skin and measuring how red the returning light is, in order to gauge changes in blood volume. The sensors trigger over 100 times per second, Apple says, and can be fed into Apple's health software and fitness apps Open, Peloton, Runna, Slopes, Ladder, Nike Run Club, and YaoYao.
Other improvements include a 20 per cent reduction in weight, the same active noise cancellation technology as found in Apple's AirPod range, a transparency mode to amplify sounds instead of cancelling them out, an adaptive equalizer based on feedback from an in-ear microphone, and the inclusion of a fifth tip size. As with the original Powerbeats Pro, the new models retain physical buttons, but internally make the shift from the older Apple H1 chip to the newer Apple H2.
The Powerbeats Pro 2 earbuds are now available to order from Apple's web store, priced at $249.99; in-store availability is scheduled for February 13th.