TechRadar has discovered that Apple has filed a new document with the FCC on Wednesday that could very well be the next Powerbeats Pro 2 coming later this year.
The description for FCC ID BCGA2453 describes ‘totally wireless high-performance earphones’ and corresponds to Apple’s model numbers A2453 and A2454, which could be two new versions of the Powerbeats Pro.
Unfortunately, Apple has requested that the FCC withhold external photographs, internal photographs, test setup photographs and the user manual until October 12, 2020 (potentially the day Apple has chosen to hold its annual iPhone unveiling event) so it will be awhile before we can confirm our suspicions.
Without photos or documentation there’s not a whole lot of information available inside the brief other than the wireless frequency the earphones will operate on (2.402-2.48 GHz) and some really technical information about the kind of wireless transmitter it will have inside.
That said, in previous FCC filings, the Apple AirPods were model number A1722 as described in an FCC filing in 2016 and the new Beats Powerbeats were model number A2015 as described in FCC ID BCGA2015 - so the A2453 model name fits within the previously established naming scheme Apple's cooked up.
Powerbeats Pro 2? What's the deal?
Beyond this filing we really don't have any idea what Apple is cooking up - so take everything that follows as pure conjecture.
Certainly some of the things Apple could add to the Powerbeats Pro would be noise cancellation - a feature taken directly from the Apple AirPods Pro - and an IP68 water-resistance rating like the iPhone 11 Pro. The latter would be a bit tricky - most earphones really stick to an IPX4 rating - but some sports enthusiasts buds like the Jaybird Tarah Pro go up to IPX7.
How much of that Apple will decide to implement remains to be seen, but both upgrades would be a substantial improvement on the Powerbeats Pro that are currently on store shelves now.
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