They definitely didn't account for different populations' ears when they designed the EarPods - I've never been able to wear them, and I've heard many similar anecdotes from non-Westerners, and from some Westerners as well. The first thing I noticed about the AirPod Pros is that they'd probably fit in my ears, and I wondered what possessed Apple to change the design after years of insisting that EarPods fit the vast majority of people's ears.
The design change isn't an indication that they changed their belief regarding that aspect of earpods.
The design needed to change to better incorporate the active noise cancelling feature. Even if earpods fit most ears, to truly be able to implement in ear ANC, a seal between the buds and the ear need to occur so they decided to overhaul the design.
Weirdly it doesn’t. Regular Airpods keep falling off my ear. Got the Pro ones following similar reasonings as yours but they keep falling as well. The silicon tip just push itself out.
