A recent regulatory filings document reveals that Apple had to partly use physically bigger batteries to extend the new AirPods Pro’s battery life. 

Last month, Apple launched the second-generation AirPods Pro alongside the iPhone 14. Although the charging case got minor tweaks, the new earbuds don’t look significantly different from their predecessor. 

However, Apple claims that the AirPods Pro 2 will offer an improved battery life. Instead of 4.5 hours of listening time with noise-canceling enabled, the new earbuds now offer up to six hours on a single charge. 

Admittedly, the tech giant did not reveal the specific battery specs at the event. However, reports suggest that the efficient H2 chip and the skin-detection sensors are responsible for the new earbud’s longer battery life. 

While that’s true, it turns out that there’s more to the story. 

Thanks to a recent 3C filing document, we now know the exact battery capacity of the individual second-generation AirPods Pro earbuds. Hint: it’s 15 percent bigger than the predecessor. 

The Battery Size of AirPods Pro 2 Earbuds

Listings on the 3C database reveal that the AirPods Pro 2 earbuds’ battery capacity is 49.7mAh. That’s a 15 percent bump compared to the first-gen’s 43.24 mAh. On the other hand, the Charging Case didn’t get a significant increase in capacity — a four mAh bump to reach 523 mAh. 

Apple says the new AirPods Pro’s MagSafe Charging Case provides an additional six hours of listening time compared to the first generation. That’s a total of 30 hours with the Active Noise Cancellation enabled. However, the improvement may result from the 15 percent bump in the earbud’s battery capacity. 

Besides improved battery life, the H2 chip also brings a refined sound quality and ANC to the second-generation AirPods Pro. It also allows the new Adaptive Transparency functionality to work on the Apple earbuds.

However, reports suggest that iOS 16.1 could bring the feature to the original AirPods Pro.