Apple hates wires. Over the years, it's plucked them away from its products. It even kicked off a frustrating no-jack trend when it removed the 3.5mm headphone jack from all of its iPhones. Its AirPods have set the tone for how a pair of wire-free earbuds should look and operate. They're petite with no wires at all (not even between your ears), get five hours of battery on a charge, and come with a pocket-sized charging case that can top them up a few times before it too needs some plug time.
With its Beats brand, though, Apple is widening the door. The new Powerbeats Pro are made for working out, and they're fantastic. They'll never fall out of your ears, sound much better than the AirPods, and last almost twice as long on a charge.
You can see Apple's influence more than ever in newer Beats headphones (it bought the company in 2014), like the Studio3 headphones. New Beats sound more balanced, have cleaner lines, and are chummy with iPhones and Macs. So it's no surprise that the $250 Powerbeats Pro look like a tamer, classier version of the Powerbeats3, which we've recommended since 2016. They're about $50 more expensive—and 17 percent lighter, according to Apple.
For now, the Powerbeats3's many crazy colors are gone. The Powerbeats Pro come in earthy tones like black, navy, moss, and ivory. Apple sent me a black pair, but the green moss is more my style. It's sad that there are no purples, oranges, or reds for people who live more vibrant lives than me, but hopefully Apple will taste the rainbow again soon.
The new Powerbeats may not be colorful, but they are comfortable. I don't wear Powerbeats often, so it took me a few days to get used to putting them on (and in). They hook over your ear like glasses and you twist to lock them into place. The earhook stays in place, but if you give it some force, it's bendable. You can push it to the exact place you like it and it seems to stay, making it comfy for many ear sizes. The default eartips worked well for me (my ears are pretty "default"), but there are three other large and small sizes available.
Each earbud is splash and sweat resistant (IPX4) and they won't jostle or come out no matter how hard you work out. I can verify this because, at one point, I literally started whipping my head back and forth to get them to shake off, like a backup dancer in that Willow Smith music video.
Each bud also has mirrored controls. The main Beats logo is a button to play and pause—hold it to activate Siri or Google Assistant, depending on your phone—and there's a useful volume toggle above it. Most wire-free earbuds have a mess of confusing button combinations to get anything done, so it was nice to just know how to use the Powerbeats without having to memorize what three taps on the left earbud means, and how it differs from three taps on the right bud. (I'm a product reviewer not a master of morse code.)
The only button that's missing is a power button. Much like the AirPods, and all the wire-free earbuds around, these buds are slaves to their charging cradle—though they do last much longer than most competitors.