Apple AirPods Pro 3

Introduction

Apple’s AirPods Pro 3 might have lacked the hype-inducing reveal of the iPhone Air, but the latest generation of the incredibly popular earbuds are a huge leap forward in many areas.

The upgrades here are so plentiful that I would be annoyed if I had recently bagged a set of AirPods Pro 2. With this third-gen model, the sound is more immersive, the ANC is far better at dealing with tricky situations and the battery life has picked up a nice bump.

However, it is some of the other new additions that really make these some of the best wireless earbuds and certainly the best AirPods you can buy.

Design

• Tweaked fit makes for a more secure bud
• Wide variety of tips included
• IP57 rated for water resistance

Upon first inspection, the AirPods Pro 3 look very much like the AirPods Pro 2. They still only come in white, and the two buds still sit in a plastic case (also still only available in white). 

The case itself seems unchanged. It has a smooth, glossy pebble-like feel with a speaker for Find My alerts, a handy loop for a lanyard and a USB-C port on the bottom for charging.

It’s the buds themselves where the changes appear. Apple has subtly redesigned the buds, pointing them inward more to give them a far more secure and comfortable fit. The tips themselves are slightly different too, with some foam inside the silicone to aid noise cancellation.

The changes will be welcome to many, notably those who found previous versions came out too easily when running. I found the AirPods Pro 2 fit fine, but these are still a notable improvement. Even during running or vigorously shaking my head in an attempt to dislodge them, they wouldn’t budge.

The improved fit makes these excellent workout buds (there are more features I’ll talk about below, which aid this even more), and it’s great that they are IP57-rated for resistance to sweat. They’re not waterproof, but they’ll withstand those sweaty gym sessions or a chance encounter with a rain shower just fine.

They’re more comfortable too, especially for longer listening sessions. Typically, I could wear the AirPods Pro 2 for a couple of hours before they’d start to irritate my ears – but with these updated ones, the irritation occurs far less.

My only minor gripe is that the tweaks to the bud design do, at least in my ears, make them stick out a bit more at an angle than before. I’ve found myself pushing the buds down to stick closer to my ear as a result.

If the default M tips don’t fit, there are four more in the box – including a new XXS size. This is a really wide range of sizes included, and one of them should fit.

The stems of the buds house a variety of controls that are accessed by various pressed. It’s all very responsive.

The AirPods case contains 40% recycled material; however, the buds are not repairable. You’ll need to pay Apple to either replace the battery if that dies, or pay them to replace the buds if they stop working. There is a recycling scheme available.

Features

• Very accurate heart rate monitor built in
• Excellent ANC
• Slight battery life improvements over Pro 2

Of course, a pair of earbuds should be judged by their sound quality, and I will get into that aspect of the AirPods below. But, it’s worth noting that these buds are packed with interesting features that might appeal to some just as much as improvements to the audio.

The biggest addition is a sensor on each bud that can measure heart rate and relay the information back to the Fitness app (or a couple of third-party alternatives). I love this feature, and it’s a neat way for those who don’t use an Apple Watch to track around 50 workouts and fill up Activity rings.

Even if you do have an Apple Watch, the AirPods Pro 3 will fill in any heart rate gaps if the watch were to stop working for any reason.

The heart rate monitor is very accurate. I compared it with an Apple Watch Ultra, and the results were pretty much the same, so you’re not sacrificing accuracy here.

Some might think this is a niche feature, but I disagree. Having an easy way to track simple workouts and walks is great, and filling up the rings is surprisingly addictive. This isn’t a sole reason to buy the AirPods Pro 3, it is however a very nice extra.

Another neat feature (although this is available via a software update on the previous-gen buds, too) is Live Translation. This pairs with the Translation app on iPhone to translate English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish, with more languages arriving in updates.

Like any translation-focused earbuds, the results are best for either simple conversations that aren’t fast and are mostly one-sided, or for louder announcements. I had a friend speak Spanish to me, and the buds managed to do a good job at reproducing what they said in English. However, it is a little slow for a conversation with people speaking naturally.

The elephant in the room here is that these features, along with the Spatial Audio, Hearing Aid and all the usual quick-pairing AirPods skills, require an iPhone, and they’re not available on Android phones.

Really, if you’re using the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra or another of the best Android phones, there are better choices available in our best wireless headphone list you should plump for. More so than ever, you need an iOS device to really get the most from the AirPods Pro 3.

Apple claims the buds can last for eight hours, and in my tests, I reached just shy of that number on a flight to Florida. This is about 90-120 minutes more juice on a single charge than the AirPods Pro 2.

Charging options remain the same, so the case can be juiced up via MagSafe chargers, a USB-C cable or even the magnetic Apple Watch charger. There’s not even a cable in the box, so you’ll need to provide your own.

Noise Cancellation

• Adaptive ANC
• Excellent call quality

In keeping with the wave of improvement with the AirPods Pro 3, the noise cancelling skills have been amped up in part thanks to the H2 chip. Apple says they “remove up to 2x more unwanted noise than the AirPods Pro 2”, and while that’s a claim that’s hard to really test, I agree the performance is noticeably better.

I’ve taken these buds on four flights (two short European hops and a flight to and from the USA), numerous train journeys, and hours spent in the midst of loud building work and I have been continually impressed. Compared to the older AirPods Pro 1 and 2, this new pair handles higher-pitch noises so much better. Sharp car sounds, the squeal of an oncoming London Underground train, are two examples of noises that are cancelled out much better, and the general buzz of a plane’s engine was also dulled noticeably more. 

I’d typically take a pair of over-ear cans on a flight – I use the Bowers and Wilkins Px7 2Se daily – but with the improved comfort, fit and ANC, the AirPods Pro 3 aren’t far behind, and that’s fantastic for a small set of buds.

While there’s no direct control over the level of ANC, it is adaptive, so it can intelligently change depending on incoming noise. There’s an excellent Transparency mode, which lets you hear the outside world and converse without voices coming across as robotic or false.

Call quality is excellent (although not as good as the classic Apple Earpods).

Sound Quality

• Excellent sound
• Good representation of spatial audio in music and video
• More expansive audio than the AirPods Pro 2

The AirPods Pro 2 sounded great, so I was quite surprised at just how much better this third-gen pair are. The soundstage is so much wider, even without the addition of spatial audio, that songs sound bigger and more immersive. This change is instantly noticeable, and really comes into its own on soaring tracks, multiple arrangements and especially on movie/TV soundtracks.

Bass is kept to just the right amount – enough for some, although it’s far from pumping if that’s your bag. Billie Eilish’s Bury a Friend, a song that’s great for testing bass on buds like this, sounded great, although the bass isn’t strong enough to vibrate through your ear canal.

Apple has always tuned its buds to work well across all sorts of genres. Some might find fault with this, as there’s little in the way of manual customisation. In practice, though, I think it’s the right direction for mass-market products like these. Whether it’s rock or pop, jazz or, as I mentioned above, movie soundtracks, the AirPods Pro 3 are well-rounded and reliable.

Vocals are crisp and clear, and there’s enough detail to bring out those smaller nuances in tracks. I played thousands of songs on these buds and everything sounds fun, bouncy and enjoyable, from Massive Attack’s Tearp and Taylor Swift’s The Fate of Ophelia.

There’s no wide code support, so no High-Res or lossless playback; however, there is spatial audio. Apple Music supports this, and so do numerous streaming apps like Disney+ and, obviously, Apple TV+. Apple’s AirPods are the best representation of Atmos audio I have tested, and while it can be hit or miss, when you find a track that works well, it does add an extra level of immersion.

I do prefer using Atmos/spatial audio when streaming video, as typically the content is mastered better. With Avengers: Endgame, turning on spatial audio gives so much more depth and surround to the pumping soundtrack, making it infinitely better.

Should you buy it?