Apple’s AirPods Pro 3, the third generation of its high-end in-canal noise-cancelling earphones, are getting some big upgrades. They’re much more fitness-friendly, with built-in heart rate monitoring and significant waterproofing, and have received some tweaks in their acoustic design and noise cancellation over the AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 2 were already excellent earphones, though, so if you own a pair, should you upgrade? Let’s break down all the differences to help you decide.
Price
Let’s start easy. The AirPods Pro 2 launched at $249. The AirPods Pro 3 are $249. No changes there.
Winner: Tie (We’ll take it, as this isn’t a given lately)
Apple’s AirPods 3: Cancelling Out the Noise With Its Latest Updates
Sound Quality
From really easy, let’s go to really hard: We can’t know the answer to this until we fully test the AirPods Pro 3. The AirPods Pro 2 already sound excellent, and the new ones have all of the same relevant features: Apple’s H2 chip, Bluetooth 5.3, personalized spatial audio with head tracking, adaptive EQ, and so on.
Apple hasn’t confirmed whether the AirPods Pro 3 have new drivers, though the company claims its new multiport acoustic design improves sound quality. But this only adds up to so much on paper, so in order to determine a winner here, we’ll need to perform some detailed testing.
Winner: TBD (Specs alone aren’t enough to make a call here)
Apple AirPods Pro 3 (Credit: Eric Zeman)
Noise Cancellation
The AirPods Pro 3 have a new active noise cancellation (ANC) system that Apple says can block out twice as much outside noise as the AirPods Pro 2. We have to test them ourselves, but we’ll be more lenient here than with sound quality because the technical changes seem much more significant.
The AirPods Pro 3 boast new ultra-low-noise microphones, increasing how much audio data they get to cancel out unwanted sounds. The eartips also add a thin layer of foam to their silicone shells compared with the AirPods Pro 2’s completely silicone tips, which can improve the seal against your ear canal and further block out noise. Those changes look like they add up to more effective ANC, and our limited time with them at the Apple event seems to reflect that.
Winner: AirPods Pro 3 (New mics and better seals should add up to better noise cancelling)
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Fitness and Health
This is the biggest and wildest upgrade to the AirPods Pro 3. They now have built-in heart rate sensing, so you can track how much you’re pushing yourself in workouts even without an Apple Watch or a fitness tracker. It isn’t as in-depth as the Apple Watch’s heart rate monitoring, and the AirPods Pro 3 lack blood oxygen monitoring and an ECG. But for earphones, it’s still a rare and useful feature that the AirPods Pro 2 lack.
Winner: AirPods Pro 3 (Heart rate monitoring is a new trick for any AirPods)
Apple AirPods Pro 3 (Credit: Eric Zeman)
Durability
The AirPods Pro 2 are water-resistant with an IP54 rating, which means they’re tested to handle splashes and can work in the rain. The AirPods Pro 3 are closer to waterproof with an IP57 rating, so you can dunk them or rinse them off in the sink and trust they’ll be fine. They’re not meant for swimming, and submerging them could be a problem, but they’re still more suited to soaking than the previous ones. In both cases, the ratings apply to the earphones and the charging case, which isn’t always true for water-resistant true wireless earphones; sometimes the earphones can handle water, but the case can’t.
Recommended by Our Editors
Winner: AirPods Pro 3 (Nearly waterproof means easy washing)
Apple AirPods Pro 2 (Credit: Tim Gideon)
Battery Life
This one’s a bit odd. Apple says the AirPods Pro 3 can last up to eight hours on a charge with noise cancellation, up from six for the AirPods Pro 2. That’s a pretty good increase, but it doesn’t mean you’ll have a longer time between plugging in the case (or putting on a Qi charger). According to Apple, the new charging case can hold up to 24 hours total listening time with ANC, while the AirPods Pro 2’s case can hold up to 30 hours under the same conditions. Whichever metric is more important depends on how long you keep your earphones in at a given time, so we’ll call this one a wash.
Winner: Tie (Do you want a longer-lasting battery in the earphones or the charging case?)
So, Should You Upgrade?
The AirPods Pro 3 are available for preorder now and come out Sept 19. We’ll have a final verdict once we review them, but for now, they look like a big enough jump from the AirPods Pro 2 to warrant an upgrade. Heart rate monitoring, even better ANC, and waterproofing are all substantial improvements.
That said, we plan to put the AirPods Pro 3 to the test and offer definitive buying advice, so check back soon for our full review.