AirPods Pro not as good for me as AirPods Amateur

Apr 29, 2020

Time for my next Apple product disappointment. AirPods Pro have come up short. While I like a couple things about them very much (mainly the astonishing sound cancellation in such a small package), there are also major issues:

They fall out of my ears much more often than regular AirPods.
They are also much less comfortable for me. I had minor discomfort with the original AirPods initially, but adapted quickly and now I can wear them almost indefinitely with no problem. The new AirPods hurt after 20 minutes and I am simply not adapting. No change in that for months now.
They frequently resume playback after removal. Sometimes I suspect it’s a design issue where it’s too easy to accidentally squeeze the stem as I’m holding them, but often it seems more like a pure bug. Anyway, it routinely has annoying consequences.
They run out of juice quicker! Presumably the active noise cancellation is very energy expensive. I don’t want to be one of those people who appreciates a feature while resenting its inevitable consequences, but I can also legitimately doubt that the feature justifies its cost. They just get too low on juice way too easily, which is not something I ever thought about the original.
And now one of them isn’t charging properly! Ugh. If I put two dead AirPods in the case to charge, half an hour later one of them is at 100% and the other is at 12%. This has persisted erratically for a while despite cleaning.

The falling out and the comfort aren’t necessarily design or quality issues, just something quirky about them for this customer. Regardless, I find I am simply not using them as often as the old AirPods “Amateur.”