Powerbeats Pro

About Powerbeats Pro

These are the ear-hook earbuds, and the hook is not styling. It is the product.

An ear hook wraps over the top of the ear and holds the bud through movement that would shake anything else loose. If you have ever stopped mid-run to push an earbud back in, this is the design that fixes it, and nothing else in Apple's audio range does the same job.

The current generation adds something no AirPods model has at all: a built-in heart rate sensor. That turns the earbuds into a training device rather than only a way to listen while training, which is a genuinely different proposition.

What does the heart rate sensor change?

It removes a device from your wrist, for some people.

Heart rate is the measurement most training is actually structured around: zones, effort, recovery. Getting it usually means wearing a watch or a chest strap in addition to whatever you are listening through. Building the sensor into earbuds you were wearing anyway collapses two devices into one.

Who that suits is specific. If you already wear a smartwatch you like, this changes little, because the watch is doing it and doing more besides. If you have resisted wearing one, or if you train in a way where a wrist device is awkward, it is a real reason to choose these over anything else in the range.

It is also the clearest example of why Beats exists as a separate brand rather than as cheaper AirPods. This is hardware Apple's own earbuds do not have, aimed at a customer Apple's own earbuds do not serve as well.

What does the hook cost you?

Bulk, convenience, and getting on with glasses.

The hooks make the case larger, and that is the trade people underestimate. Earbuds live in a pocket, and a case that no longer fits comfortably in one changes how often you carry them.

They are slower to put in and take out. That is irrelevant for a training session with a clear start and end, and irritating for earbuds you take in and out through a working day.

Glasses are the real one. The hook and a spectacle arm compete for the same space behind your ear, and how well that works varies from unnoticeable to genuinely annoying depending on the frames. If you wear glasses, this is the thing to test rather than read about.

None of these matter if the alternative is earbuds that fall out. That is the whole calculation: absolute security of fit, paid for in everyday convenience.

Who should buy something else?

Anyone whose earbuds already stay in. If ordinary buds hold through your training, the hook is a cost with no benefit, and the wingtip line or AirPods Pro will be more pleasant to live with day to day.

Anyone who wants one pair for everything. These are training earbuds that also work for a commute rather than the reverse, and the case size and the fiddliness show up every time you use them outside a workout.

Anyone who already wears a smartwatch they are happy with. The heart rate sensor is the headline reason to pay for this line, and if your wrist is already covering it, you are buying a duplicate.

Anyone who wears glasses and cannot try before buying. It may be completely fine, and it may not, and that is not a question worth guessing on.