3 sourced reports, with what to check before you buy. Each one links to the page it was reported on.
Costly or dangerous
AirPods Pro 2 left bud emits wind-like static noise under ANC/transparency, replacement refused
A consumer complaint filed with the Korea Consumer Agency (한국소비자연맹): about two months after purchase the left unit intermittently produced wind-like noise under noise-cancelling/transparency even in a quiet room; an authorized Apple service center inspected only the exterior, found no fault, and refused exchange, and the noise later became continuous.
What to check. If you buy AirPods Pro 2 and hear wind/static noise in one bud under ANC in a quiet room, treat it as a documented defect, not a fitment quirk. Expect pushback at service: the owner here was refused a replacement on first visit and had to escalate to a consumer agency. Verify the unit's behavior early within the warranty window.
AirPods Pro 2 left earbud battery dies within 45 minutes at month 13, after warranty
A reliability engineer's documented failure and component-level Weibull analysis: the left bud's battery degraded to under 45 minutes of life one month after Apple's one-year warranty expired, and the analysis identifies the bud batteries (not the ANC/H2 chip) as the dominant failure mode, with system reliability dropping to ~56% by year three.
What to check. Battery degradation is the main long-term failure risk on AirPods Pro 2 and typically shows up just after the one-year warranty ends, so a replacement is out-of-pocket. If you plan to keep them past a year, weigh AppleCare+ or a retailer's extended warranty against this known battery wear-out profile.
Apple officially acknowledges AirPods Pro 2 ANC audio problems from blocked microphones
Apple's official support document for AirPods Pro 2 (and other ANC models) states that blocked or covered external microphones can temporarily cause high-pitched sounds, feedback, or other audio-performance problems under ANC — official acknowledgment that ANC-related audio faults occur on this model.
What to check. Apple itself documents ANC audio faults (high-pitched sounds, feedback) on AirPods Pro 2 tied to the external microphones. If you hear such noise, first check/clean the mic openings and run the ear-tip fit test before assuming a hardware defect — but a persistent fault in a quiet room is the documented owner-reported defect above.
These reports come from the pages linked under each item: owner forums, repair guides and workshops. They are not a diagnosis of any one unit, and a careful check of the one you are buying still applies.
Text from the Kriko Premium earbuds catalog, version 0.1.1, under the CC-BY-SA-4.0 license.
