Firmware: The elephant in the room
Those first two weeks with AirPods Pro were like heaven on earth. Then came the sting in the tale and the start of this ongoing saga: a firmware update.
AirPods firmware updates happen automatically. And unlike with iOS and macOS updates, they can’t be stopped. You’re getting the update whether you like it or not.
Furthermore, they can’t be downgraded, which is a key issue in this shambles.
The best noise cancellation AirPods Pro had lasted two weeks
Two weeks after launch on November 14th 2019 — after a string of glowing reviews in the media — AirPods Pro across the world were updated automatically to version 2B588. This is, at the time of writing, the ‘most recent’ firmware version.
2B588 weakened the noise cancellation, and this was quickly picked up on by many users. On Apple’s support forums, a thread was created on November 24th entitled AirPods Pro firmware 2B588 reduce the noise cancelling capability. As of today, it has an astronomical 39,000 views and runs to 37 pages.
The first post of this thread read:
After my AirPods Pro auto-update to firmware 2B588 the noise cancelling suddenly become very weak, almost no difference from Off mode and Noise cancel mode.
Enter 2C54: the scapegoat release
The issue gained some traction, but the timeline gets a little blurry because not long later on December 16th, Apple released a second firmware update: version 2C54. By this point, complaints were rising about the noise cancellation, and it wasn’t long before the media picked it up.
2C54 did nothing to fix the noise cancellation issue — it remained weakened substantially from the launch firmware. The update also changed the sound profile of the AirPods, with some reports claiming improved bass response.
In the confusion — and amidst the two stealth updates — most of the media reports suggested 2C54 was to blame for the noise cancellation weakening. But in reality, the damage was actually done in 2B588.
2C54 dies, but the situation gets worse
Apple pulled 2C54 before January 2020 and the latest firmware returned to being 2B588. AirPods Pro models would no longer update to 2C54, but those that already had the update couldn’t go back. As awareness of the issue grew, people far and wide on 2C54 complained they wanted to go back to the ‘good’ firmware.
Many people engaged with Apple Support about the issue in store and via telephone support, and there were widespread user reports of Apple swapping out the AirPods Pro, providing users with units running 2B588. Unfortunately, while 2B588 is widely considered ‘better’ than 2C54, when it comes to ANC they are both significantly degraded from launch.
In short, both 2B588 and 2C54 are ‘bad’ when it comes to noise cancellation. Only the launch firmware — 2B584 — features the superior, mind-blowing ANC which the media reviewers raved about.
Apple Support credit card holds and replacement woes
I know this from personal experience. I noticed the ANC degradation immediately when 2B588 was released in November and promptly contacted Apple Support about it.
Apple took a £250 hold on my credit card and shipped me out a left AirPod, a right AirPod and a new case, in three separate shipments — with excessive packaging. I swiftly mailed back the originals in three separate shipments as per the instructions.
The replacements were running 2B584 (the launch firmware) and in the few minutes I had with them before they automatically upgraded themselves, I once again got to experience the outstanding noise cancellation the product originally launched with.
Unfortunately, Apple did not release the credit card hold for several weeks because of problems their end with TNT and the repair facility not being able to unify shipments.
And the replacements ended up being duds. They swiftly updated to 2B588 which nerfed the noise cancellation and, most annoyingly, before long 2C54 was on the scene and there was zero difference between the noise cancellation and transparency modes. Apple took a second £250 hold and shipped me a new set. It took around four weeks — and a great many hours on multiple phone calls with a senior advisor at Apple — to get the holds removed.
My current pair are fine, I suppose, in the sense they are on 2B588 rather than 2C54 and seem to work well enough, but the incontrovertible fact remains: on 2B588 the noise cancellation is nowhere near as good as launch. The product itself is not as good a product as the one I bought in October 2019.
Because of a mandatory, automatic software update. And this is not okay.
And now Apple are mailing replacements which render the AirPods completely unusable
Many people out there are in a similar boat with nightmarish support situations. To make matters even worse, this month (April 2020) it emerged users were being shipped replacement AirPods running an unreleased firmware version, 2D3, which rendered their product unusable due to a mismatch between the left and right pods.
Apple has apparently been shipping these AirPods running the unusable firmware since March 25 or earlier, so some customers have been without a functional set of AirPods for a few weeks.
It is unclear at this stage when — or even if — 2D3 will be released, or if it addresses the noise cancellation issue, which is approaching its sixth month of being a problem. And now many users are unable to even use their product in any capacity due to this horrendous firmware mismatch issue, having endured credit card holds for mail-in replacements.
At this stage, the situation is reaching a truly farcical level and it’s about time something was done about it.