Apple announced the debut of the long-awaited PowerBeats Pro 2 earbuds on Tuesday. Nearly six years after the initial PowerBeats went on sale, new headphones arrived. The new model is for a workout familiar ear hooks while providing upgraded sound, better battery life and wireless charging case.

The earbuds also mark an important next step in the company's promotion of its healthcare capabilities and add built-in heart rate monitoring. This feature is triggered during the workout and provides real-time data through an LED optical sensor.

In addition to Apple's own health app, the monitoring is compatible with many of the leading fitness apps, including Open, Peloton, Runna, Slopes, Ladder, Nike Run Club, and Yaoyao. One of the most popular running applications Strava obviously doesn't exist in the list.

PowerBeats expands its Apple Health portfolio, which currently revolves around the Apple Watch. While elements like Step Tracking have been around since the early days, Apple has been doing its best since. Now, the watch has ECG readings, fall detection, sleep tracking, and a variety of other features designed to provide wearer health.

Apple's health suite has been further expanded in 2024 and has added hearing aid capabilities for the Airpods Pro 2. The arrival of heart rate monitoring on the beat line may herald the feature in the upcoming AirPods update - although doing so will require a major feature hardware refresh.

Compared with PowerBeats' fitness focus, Apple-branded headphones are also more general lifestyle products.

The new headphones have been upgraded from Apple's W2 to its H2 chip, which debuted on the AirPods Pro 2 in 2022. It will continue to be the top Apple headset chip until the company launches the AirPods Pro 3 in the future.

Apple uses proprietary silicon as a driving force for improved battery life. The bud itself has 10 hours of battery power compared to the nines of his predecessor. But, even more impressive, this situation increases total battery life from 24 hours to 45 hours, which the company is doing while reducing the infamous large-scale cases of the original PowerBeats Pro.

Apple is also touting improvements in sound quality thanks to the addition of spatial audio with head tracking (the same noise effect as the AirPods Pro 2) and its adaptive EQ technology.

Now, the familiar ear hook exercises nickel alloy to increase strength, while the buds’ overall weight drops by 20%.

Apple said it tested professionals of 1,000 athletes to create a more general fit. The headphones also have an IPX4 sweat resistance rating - same as the score on the AirPods. In addition to wireless charging, the headset also swaps the lightning port of its predecessor to USB-C.

The PowerBeats Pro 2 starts online today and costs $250 – same as their predecessors, back in 2019. They will be available on Thursday, February 13.

Apple has just announced the Super Bowl, but that hasn't stopped the company from spending on advertising, as well as recognition from star athletes including LeBron James, Lionel Messi and Shohei Ohtani.