Could Apple have a silent second firmware version of 5B58?

[PeterKG]

I made a Genius Bar appointment to have my second generation AirPod Pros checked out for connectivity and choppy audio issues. I had to give them an hour to run diagnostics on them. When I picked them up, the tech told me they found no hardware issues. He then told me that he updated the firmware and reset them.

I was surprised because I hadn’t heard that another firmware was released. He told me it happened a couple of days ago. I thought, great, if hardware was good and a new firmware was released, then maybe they will be fixed. When I got home and paired them, I checked and firmware was still 5B58. I was pissed thinking the guy lied to me, but now they are working perfectly And even sound amazing.

My only thought now is that when the firmware first updated them, that it wasn’t successful even though the version changed. Or maybe Apple is silently fixing them with an internal build, or the diagnostics has the ability to run the firmware again just as how you can wipe a Mac and reinstall the OS. Has anyone else had the same experience at the Genius Bar?

 

[addamas]

It’s either one of these, interesting

1) Placebo Effect which I guess is not a point there

2) They did an OTA update and somehow for some people it failed (which is terrifying as CRC should be counted and show errors)

3) They did new update with the same name - which is also scary as you can't simply re run any update as user but they can and/or FW numbers are not showing full version name.

4) You got replacement AirPods

5) Reseting might help with his issue?

 

[PeterKG]

It’s either one of these, interesting

1) Placebo Effect which I guess is not a point there

2) They did an OTA update and somehow for some people it failed (which is terrifying as CRC should be counted and show errors)

3) They did new update with the same name - which is also scary as you can't simply re run any update as user but they can and/or FW numbers are not showing full version name.

4) You got replacement AirPods

5) Reseting might help with his issue?

Great post! Not placebo. I’ve been wearing them for hours running through the same situations that caused the choppy audio and connection issues. They are perfect now. I also had reset them numerous times. So your points 2-4 are plausible. 🙂

 

[jon3543]

Great post! Not placebo. I’ve been wearing them for hours running through the same situations that caused the choppy audio and connection issues. They are perfect now. I also had reset them numerous times. So your points 2-4 are plausible. 🙂

Report back after using them for a week. Mine have worked fine for as long as a couple of days before turning back into the crap that they are.

 

[PeterKG]

Report back after using them for a week. Mine have worked fine for as long as a couple of days before turning back into the crap that they are.

I will report back. Second day, they are really good and functioning as they should. Did you do the same as I did, taking them in for repair to find no hardware issue, and getting a firmware update?

 

[jon3543]

I will report back. Second day, they are really good and functioning as they should. Did you do the same as I did, taking them in for repair to find no hardware issue, and getting a firmware update?

No, but I did factory reset mine.

 

[PeterKG]

No, but I did factory reset mine.

Oh, me too. Numerous times with no success. I couldn't even use them with my Sony XBR OLED and reset that too many times. It has to be something else Apple did in the store. You should set up an appointment and give it a shot that they are doing something that fixes them.

 

[hoo-man-b-ing]

As to your original question, having a silent second version of firmware would add extra complexity to their entire ecosystem including at an engineering, support, and programmatic level. While they *could* technically display one firmware string to the user and have an extended/differentiated firmware string used everywhere else, it would be a horrifically expensive decision to make with no clear value.

My bet would be something that in addition to the firmware force reapply (which perhaps did nothing), they cleaned/force reset/did something else that addressed the symptom. Occam’s razor and all that.