Do I need an iPhone 14/14 Pro to take full advantage of AirPods Pro Gen2?

AirPods Pro Gen2 users may need the latest iPhone.

According to Apple, theThe new AirPods Pro Gen2 should offer increased battery life and better sound quality. However, these improvements depend on Bluetooth 5.3 in addition to improvements in internal hardware (H2 chip, new speakers). In fact, Bluetooth 5.3 allows the use of Bluetooth LE audio, including the Less Complex Communication Codec (or LC3), providing high-quality rendering (although the mentioned improvements are compared to the SBC codec, which provides unsatisfactory rendering and is often ignored. Quality in favor of aptX from Qualcomm and AAC from Apple (manufacturers of audio products) while reducing energy consumption.

Bluetooth LE Audio (of which the LC3 codec is a part) Also provides enhancements for hearing aids and statically supports audio sharing between multiple streaming systems from one source. (Apple already offers this by allowing two pairs of AirPods/Beats to stream from an iPhone/iPod or Apple TV).

Click on image to illustrate LC3’s progress against SBC

The problem is, apart from the new iPhone 14 and 14 Pro, The rest of the iPads and iPhones only have Bluetooth 5.0, not enough to take full advantage of the improvements in Bluetooth LE audio.. It still needs to be verified, but the maximum autonomy of the AirPods Pro Gen2 is only available to owners of the latest (and expensive) iPhone from Cupertino (you need to check the audio, AAC can. To provide better performance than the LC3).