AirPods Pro 3: everything we know so far, plus all the latest rumors and leaks
Not to upset the Apple cart, but people are starting to talk…
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According toApple, theAirPods Pro 2are the most popular headphonesever. While a follow-up could trump that statistic, the company will have to actually release the AirPods Pro 3 first.
While some AirPods fans thought that we’d see the AirPods Pro 3 on September 9 atApple’s Glowtime event, that didn’t end up being the case. Instead we saw theApple AirPods 4, a few new colors for theAirPods Maxandthree new features for the AirPods Pro 2.
This latter might be the biggest clue as to the AirPods Pro 3 that we’ve seen, because the features will almost definitely come to the newer model. These AirPods Pro 2 features are themed around hearing health, offering ways to protect, monitor and enhance your hearing, and you canread more about them in our round-up.
Despite what the most feverish Apple fans were saying, there werehints that we wouldn’t be seeing the AirPods Pro 3at Glowtime. That’s the bad news, but the good news is that the same rumor pointed to when wewouldsee them, which you can read about in the ‘release date’ section below.
While there’s undoubtedly a lot to like in ourbest AirPodsroundup, a shiny new set of AirPods Pro 3 would almost certainly make their debut as the best of the bunch.
We’ve corralled all the Apple AirPods Pro 3 rumors and leaks so far, including possible pricing and release dates, though many of the ones we’ve heard actually ended up being about other products. So if you’re weighing up one of thebest AirPods Pro dealsright now, you might want to hang on.
We’ve also gone into detail when it comes to some of the upgrades we think Apple should be considering this time around, just in case anyone from the AirPods engineering department is reading…
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Apple AirPods Pro 3: possible release date and pricing
With the AirPods Pro 3 sitting out of the September 9 Apple event, it’s looking likely that they’ll be unveiled early next year. Why? Because arecent missive from Mark Gurmantold us that the new Pro buds are “due as early as next year” (as in, 2025).
Looking back (over your shoulder!) for a second, the AirPods Pro 2 arrived on September 23, 2022, and then were updated in September 2023 to a version with USB-C connectivity, but other than that, they were otherwise basically the same.
So should we expect another yearly upgrade this September, 2024? Alas, it seems unlikely if you look further back at Apple’s Pro history.
The inauguralAirPods Proarrived on October 30, 2019, so there was a three year gap between first-gen and second-gen iterations. The 2023 version was an anomaly, adding USB-C basically to pair with the newly USB-C-fiediPhone 15.
With that in mind, 2025 might be a better bet for the AirPods Pro 3, being three years on from the original launch of AirPods Pro 2. That’s a date which has been backed up byBloomberg’s Mark Gurman, though 2024 is still on the table –in August 2024, a somewhat reliable leaker said that AirPods Pro 3 would come ‘soon’.
As for pricing, both the AirPods Pro and the AirPods Pro 2 were priced at $249 / £249 / AU$399 when they first appeared, so the AirPods Pro 3 cost should be similar – though some inflation is probably inevitable. Lots of thebest wireless earbudshave risen in price in the last few years, but Apple made a point of hanging on at the same price as the original AirPods Pro from 2019. If it does the same again, the new buds will actually come at the lower end of the premium earbuds range.
Apple AirPods Pro 3: Rumors and leaks
First off, the biggie: although they didn’t launch on September 9, some snooping into iOS 18 code after the event did reveal some clues as to what the unannounced AirPods Pro 3 might be able to do – namely,the tracking of your heart-rate during workouts to send to Apple Health. The investigation into the iOS 18 code (thank you,9to5Mac) revealed a reference to wireless earbuds with a heart rate sensor: “wear both earbuds during workouts to track and send your heart rate to Apple Health”. Interesting…
It’s as sure an indication yet that health sensors are likely on the way, likely for both theAirPods Pro 3and the next-genPowerBeats Pro earbuds. It won’t be the first time it’s been done – TechRadar’s audio editor Becky Scarrotttried the world’s first ‘stress testing’ earbuds, the Anker Soundcore Liberty4 back in October 2022, but the idea that this might sit within Apple’s Health ecosystem has certainly got our attention.
Analyst and leaker Mark Gurman has of course made some claims about the AirPods Pro 3 in hisBloomberg newsletter. Gurman claims that the AirPods Pro 3 will have a new design (as will their case) along with better audio quality.
They will also apparently have a new chipset, and some new health features, with “the ability to get hearing data of some sort” being added. At the iPhone 16 launch, we learned that these features will be available on the AirPods Pro 2, but they’ll probably also come to the Pro 3 when they roll out.
Meanwhile,leaker Kosutami claimed that the new model will offer “much better” active noise cancellation than AirPods Pro 2, and will arrive “soon”– though obviously those are two pretty vague claims.
Beyond that, you’ll know that the AirPods Pro 2 have been updated with a USB-C case, aspreviously predicted. This is of course because of the European Union settingan autumn 2024 deadlinefor the adoption of USB-C charging technology.
WhileApple has expressed it isn’t happy, claiming such a move can stifle innovation, it seems highly likely the company will comply with the AirPods Pro 3, as it has with the AirPods Pro 2 and the latest iPhone.
I think this is likely the USB-C version of the AirPods Pro 2, with mass shipments expected in 2Q23-3Q23. By the way, Apple currently appears to have no plans for USB-C versions of the AirPods 2 & 3.我覺得這應該是AirPods Pro… https://t.co/aWKJvGh1lWMarch 24, 2023
As you can see from the tweet above, evidence for some new AirPods and a new AirPods case in iOS 16.4 were predicted to be the updated USB-C versions by highly respected analystMing-Chi Kuo.
That leaves us still waiting for the Apple AirPods Pro 3 to appear. It’s perhaps telling that aleaked Apple hardware roadmapsuggested that third-gen Apple AirPods Pro earbuds were still in “early development”. There’s a pretty fair chance we’ll see theAirPods 4before the AirPods Pro 3.
With that in mind, we might expect some more leaks and rumors to start emerging if we’re about to see them in the last quarter of 2024. We’ll be reporting on all of them here, so be sure to check back regularly.
AirPods Pro 3: features and what we want to see
In case you didn’t know, Applehad originally planned to sell its AirPods in a variety of color optionsbeyond the shiny arctic white that’s been standard for the company’s wireless earbuds since thefirst AirPods versionshipped back in 2016 (thank you @KostuamiSan on Twitter,via AppleInsider). The story goes that ProductRED, Purple, Black, and Blonde AirPods were planned, to correspond with options for the iPhone 7, but all were ultimately cancelled.
We have seen various finishes available for the AirPods Max, (Space Gray, Silver, Sky Blue, Green, and Pink) so surely different AirPods Pro finishes isn’t too big an ask?
Apple used to release color version of 1st gen AirPods, they planned to make Pink, ProductRED, Purple, Black, Blonde.Reason of that: they wanted to match the color with iPhone 7. (Purple version of iPhone 7 cancelled at last)And it’s been cancelled. #appleinternal #Apple pic.twitter.com/AaQqrJZbSrMay 30, 2023
But let’s get serious. In case you missed it,Apple’s WWDC 2024shindig happened from June 5 to June 9. And while it was a scorcher for software (we had sweeping iOS updates, changes to macOS, plus a look at Apple’s artificial intelligence machinations in the form ofApple Intelligenceand a new smarter Siri) we didn’t get any new AirPods.
Where Apple’s unannounced AirPods Pro 3 are concerned, we need to go back. little bit, to discuss the fact that in 2023, the Cupertino giant addedAdaptive Audio to AirPods– a headline upgrade withinsix new features coming to AirPods Pro 2 thanks to iOS 17.
Not all AirPods got the update, only the current models toting active noise cancellation, aka theAirPods Pro 2andAirPods Max. Essentially, where once there were only three modes available – ANC, transparency mode, and off – you got a fourth: Adaptive Audio. Apple’s take is that this offers the middle ground that we’ve all been looking for.
I disagree. The new feature blends transparency mode with ANC to match the conditions of your natural surroundings. Using machine learning, Adaptive Audio then creates a more customized and dynamic listening experience so that you don’t have to play around with audio settings on your iPhone while you’re on the move.
I’d argue that users maywantto play with the levels of noise nixing. What if listeners want Adaptive Audio that’s tweakable further than simply on/off? As TechRadar’s Managing Editor of Entertainment wrote at the time: “Give me different levels of noise cancellation – or even better, let me create my own, using a slider or two to set my preferred level, and then saving them as presets I can easily access from Control Center (or maybe they can be triggered by location).”
To summarize, Apple could adopt a few of these ideas for the AirPods Pro 3 and come off looking very good indeed.
Elsewhere, the flagshipTechnics EAH-AZ80earbuds offer multipoint connectivity tothreedevices whether Android or iOS, and in this ‘Pro’ space it would be great if Apple could follow suit with device-agnostic multipoint pairing. Current AirPods cannot connect to two different devices simultaneously – unless they’re both Apple products. Provided someone links their AirPods to their Apple ID, AirPods will instantly switch to whatever device the wearer is using.
For stamina, AirPods Pro 2 are more than acceptable at up to 6 hours of listening time with a single charge (up to 5.5 hours with Spatial Audio and Head Tracking enabled) or up to 30 hours of listening time. This is a little longer thanSonyand Technics' flagship 2023 buds can manage; it’s seven hours and up to 25 with the charging case from the Technics EAH-AZ80; eight hours or 24 in total with the case fromSony’s WF-1000XM5.
But the main bone of contention where any new AirPods are concerned is support for Apple Music’s own high-resolution audio offering, specifically 24-bit/96 kHz, aka the maximum resolution ofApple Music’s Lossless tier, and 24-bit/192kHz – where Apple Music’s Hi-Res Lossless offering maxes out.
Currently, to have Hi-Res Lossless files (whichApplegaveto its Apple Music subscribers at no extra costalmost two years ago) on your iPhone, you need a fairly involved wired system commencing with the Apple Lightning to USB camera adapter (which is limited to 24-bit/48kHz) then a third-partyportable DACto get you up to resolution,thena set of goodwired headphones.
And the slightly lowlier Lossless tier? You still need wired headphones – although your iPhone’s onboard DAC is good enough to give you the goods provided you’re attaching a cable; something likeApple’s still-great EarPods.
If AirPods Pro 3 could grant loyal Apple devotees access to Apple Music’s Hi-Res Lossless tier, it’d be a home run.
Becky became Audio Editor at TechRadar in 2024, but joined the team in 2022 as Senior Staff Writer, focusing on all things hi-fi. Before this, she spent three years at What Hi-Fi? testing and reviewing everything from wallet-friendly wireless earbuds to huge high-end sound systems. Prior to gaining her MA in Journalism in 2018, Becky freelanced as an arts critic alongside a 22-year career as a professional dancer and aerialist – any love of dance starts with a love of music. Becky has previously contributed to Stuff, FourFourTwo and The Stage. When not writing, she can still be found throwing shapes in a dance studio, these days with varying degrees of success.
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