Apple is widely expected to refresh the AirPods Pro this week. The AirPods Pro 3 have appeared in various rumors over the past few months, with recent reports saying the third-generation AirPods Pro would support new health-related features, including heart rate and temperature sensors. Also, AirPods Pro 3 will get Live Translation support for in-person conversations, though the Apple Intelligence feature might not be available immediately.
Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst well-known for his Apple predictions, said on X over the weekend that Apple will launch the AirPods Pro 3 in the second half of 2025, which aligns with other rumors. Interestingly, he teased that a more significant hardware update will come next year, hinting at a surprise AirPods Pro refresh. The 2026 model would feature infrared (IR) cameras, a claim Kuo made a few months ago when he said AirPods might not see significant updates until 2026.
Kuo seemed to indicate that Apple might release the AirPods Pro 4 much sooner than expected. AirPods Pro don’t usually receive annual updates. Also, Kuo’s remark about Apple’s AirPods Pro 3 launch plans seemed to suggest the wireless earphones wouldn’t hit stores alongside the iPhone 17. A leaker from China called Instant Digital (via MacRumors) cleared up some of the confusion, claiming that the 2026 AirPods Pro model would be a higher-end version of the current AirPods Pro 3 model, rather than the next-generation AirPods Pro 4.
When will the AirPods Pro 3 launch?
Apple should unveil the AirPods Pro 3 on stage during the iPhone 17 press event on Tuesday. Apple fans following the company’s plans closely probably expect the AirPods Pro 3 to be available for preorder in the days following the keynote. The next-generation wireless earphones should then be available in brick-and-mortar stores about a week later.
Kuo’s tweet makes it sound like the AirPods Pro 3 release date might be delayed, at least compared to expectations. The analyst said the product is coming in the second half of 2025 with just a couple of days to go until the iPhone 17 event instead of saying the AirPods Pro 3 will hit stores this month with the new iPhones. Kuo might simply be hedging his predictions by offering readers a wider launch window. This way, there’s no way his prediction could be wrong, given that we’re already in the second half of the year.
The other explanation is that AirPods Pro 3 might not be ready to ship in the next few weeks. The wireless earphones could hit stores some time after the iPhone 17 models, perhaps closer to the holidays.
What will the AirPods Pro 3 have to offer?
Kuo didn’t expand on the 2026 AirPods Pro last weekend, but he mentioned infrared cameras for the earbuds back in May. Before that, he penned a blog post in June 2024 to explain how the IR cameras would work: “The new AirPods is expected to be used with Vision Pro and future Apple headsets to enhance the user experience of spatial audio and strengthen the spatial computing ecosystem,” Kuo said.
“For example, when a user is watching a video with Vision Pro and wearing [these] new AirPods, if users turn their heads to look in a specific direction, the sound source in that direction can be emphasized to enhance the spatial audio/computing experience.” Kuo added that the IR camera would also detect changes in the environment. The feature might enable new in-air gesture controls “to enhance human-device interaction.”
Instant Digital claims the 2026 AirPods Pro would be a higher-end version of the AirPods Pro 3, not a brand-new product. The Chinese leaker also mentioned the infrared cameras, saying the 2026 model would be more expensive than this year’s model. The two devices will be available in stores at the same time, similar to the two differently priced AirPods 4 that Apple currently sells.
