New AirPods Pro ad highlights ANC, Transparency mode with city walk
Apple's latest ad spot for the AirPods Pro centers around its Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency features, showing a person navigating through a busy city and using the audio accessories to shift into a quieter music-filled version of the same street.
The standout feature of the AirPods Pro is the inclusion of Active Noise Cancellation, which allows the user to effectively block out environmental noise, allowing them to enjoy their music or podcasts in peace. In an ad posted to YouTube on Wednesday, Apple is promoting that very element.
In the two-minute video titled "AirPods Pro - Snap," a woman is seen exiting a building and onto a busy street. Shortly after reaching the sidewalk, the video's subject puts the AirPods Pro into her ears and starts to listen to "The Difference," a song by Flume featuring Toro y Moi.
Shortly after walking with the music in the background, the person triggers full ANC on the AirPods Pro, and is transported to another version of the same street that is much quieter. Unlike the busy daytime scene, it is set at night with bright lights and a costume change for the AirPods Pro wearer, who also starts dancing as they move along the now-empty road.
As they reach a crossing, the AirPods Transparency mode is triggered, returning the person to the real world and reintroducing the environmental sounds. Once the dancer sees it is safe to cross, Transparency is disabled and they are returned to their own private world as they dance through the city.
Occasionally the subject turns on Transparency for brief moments before disabling it, such as to apologize to another person for bumping into them and to buy items at a store. The dancer finishes their journey by boarding a bus.
The ad spot ends by showing the words "Transparency mode" on a backdrop of the city, followed by "Active Noise Cancellation" in green on an image of the colorful nighttime view.
Current rumors has Apple preparing to launch a third model of AirPods, named "AirPods Pro Lite." While few details have circulated about the model, it is thought the version would be a cheaper variant of the Pro, but potentially with a reduced feature set.
The standout feature of the AirPods Pro is the inclusion of Active Noise Cancellation, which allows the user to effectively block out environmental noise, allowing them to enjoy their music or podcasts in peace. In an ad posted to YouTube on Wednesday, Apple is promoting that very element.
In the two-minute video titled "AirPods Pro - Snap," a woman is seen exiting a building and onto a busy street. Shortly after reaching the sidewalk, the video's subject puts the AirPods Pro into her ears and starts to listen to "The Difference," a song by Flume featuring Toro y Moi.
Shortly after walking with the music in the background, the person triggers full ANC on the AirPods Pro, and is transported to another version of the same street that is much quieter. Unlike the busy daytime scene, it is set at night with bright lights and a costume change for the AirPods Pro wearer, who also starts dancing as they move along the now-empty road.
As they reach a crossing, the AirPods Transparency mode is triggered, returning the person to the real world and reintroducing the environmental sounds. Once the dancer sees it is safe to cross, Transparency is disabled and they are returned to their own private world as they dance through the city.
Occasionally the subject turns on Transparency for brief moments before disabling it, such as to apologize to another person for bumping into them and to buy items at a store. The dancer finishes their journey by boarding a bus.
The ad spot ends by showing the words "Transparency mode" on a backdrop of the city, followed by "Active Noise Cancellation" in green on an image of the colorful nighttime view.
Current rumors has Apple preparing to launch a third model of AirPods, named "AirPods Pro Lite." While few details have circulated about the model, it is thought the version would be a cheaper variant of the Pro, but potentially with a reduced feature set.
Comments
My dog and I were attacked by a Pit Bull in January while out walking- from behind - and I was talking to my GF (at work) on my Beats Pro Wireless headphones which do not have noise cancellation. I would speculate that with noise cancellation things would have been very different- I was able to hear the approach and help keep the dog from a direct attack on mine. Unfortunately my GF heard most of the attack on the phone until the headsets popped out of my ears.
That dog jumped and climbed a chain link fence and that sound gave me the short space of time to react defensively.
I do wish Apple would bring back the original iPod silhouette ads for AirPods.
* For those who haven't seen the show, it's essentially a modern day Twilight Zone where virtually every episode uncovers the dark side of current and imagined 21st-century tech.
The "AirPods Pro Lite" already exist -- they're called AirPods. I would expect, given that they still sell tremendously well, that Apple might produce a third generation of regular AirPods with similar design cues to the AirPods Pro (shorter stem, squeeze sensors) but not ANC.
I own a pair of AirPods Pro and I can tell you that the noise cancelation in ANC mode does not completely block out all noise. Rather than shutting out your surroundings, it's more like it muffles your surroundings so you can hear what's coming through the earphones. For example, while walking around the city, I can still hear the sounds of cars honking their horns.
This actually bothered me when I first started using my new AirPods Pro, because I expected complete noise cancellation. However, after using them for a while, I started to see the benefits of being able to hear loud noises in cases where I do need to hear what's going on around me.
If you're considering buying a pair of AirPods Pro, just remember that they won't give you the feeling of listening to your music in a sound proof room. However, you will be able to hear your music clearly, even the more subtle sounds. Do I recommend them even with this consideration? Hell yeah. I love them and would definitely choose them over regular AirPods because I like being able to hear my music at a non-ear-destroying level when I'm on city streets and in crowded restaurants.