The AirPods Pro 2 Adaptive Transparency feature is not coming to the original AirPods Pro or the AirPods Max, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The Adaptive Transparency setting that appeared in the third iOS 16.1 beta is apparently a bug.
AirPods Max and original AirPods Pro owners noticed an Adaptive Transparency setting that had replaced the original Transparency setting shortly after upgrading to the latest iOS 16.1 and the AirPods beta firmware, and the assumption was that Apple was expanding the feature to additional devices.
I’m told this is a bug https://t.co/4BPBmpLbgI — Mark Gurman (@markgurman) October 3, 2022
Apple does not often tout new features like Adaptive Transparency and bring them to older devices, so it was a curious decision, and it makes sense that it was actually added in error. It's likely that there is no Adaptive Transparency implementation for the original AirPods Pro and AirPods Max at all, and Apple accidentally made the Adaptive Transparency setting visible for devices that do not actually support it.
Adaptive Transparency is an AirPods Pro 2 feature that Apple highlighted extensively when introducing the new earbuds, attributing it to the new H2 chip. Adaptive Transparency is designed to allow the AirPods Pro quiet loud sounds, such as sirens, construction work, or loud speakers at a concert without blocking out all noise.
