- Smaller AirPods Pro 3 will be popular – but one bit of hardware isn’t mentioned
- Heart-rate monitoring lands – but not temperature sensing
- Live translation makes its surprising debut
They’re here! The arrival of AirPods Pro 3 at Apple’s interesting ‘Awe Inspiring’ event just now is big news. Why? Because Apple claims its AirPods Pro 2 are the most popular headphones ever – and I cannot disagree.
Following a steady stream of leaks over the past few weeks, including a design teaser, heart-rate monitors and temperature sensors being the rumored inclusions, that big hint in iOS 26, and despite Ming Chi-Kuo claiming the Pro 3 won’t be a big deal and that the “more significant update” will be in 2026 – namely the AirPods Pro 4 (a sentiment recently echoed by Mark Gurman), the AirPods Pro 3 finally official.
So what do you need to know? It’s all here – simply read on!
1. The new heart-rate sensor explained – and the smaller shape
A September 2 leak suggested two new sensors were coming to the AirPods Pro 3, namely heart-rate monitoring and a temperature sensor. And lo, one of those has come to pass!
Apple says that thanks to a redesigned mesh and new custom driver architecture, there’s increased airflow to ear for wider soundstage and bigger bass, plus new “foam infused” ear tips (of which there are now five – even an XXS size!). All of this also has led Apple to claim you’ll get twice the ANC power of the outgoing model – quite a boast.
But the biggie can be seen in our main image: heart-rate monitoring. See that extra black little bar on the inside neck of the bud? Apple’s using it, plus the built-in movement sensors of AirPods, to promise a new workout experience that can track 50 workout types with just AirPods Pro 3 – ie. no Apple Watch needed.
And you’ll even get motivational feedback to workouts, and info tracking in Apple Fitness+, with new APIs for fitness app makers to track your workouts.
Apple says “AirPods Pro 3 introduce a custom photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor that shines invisible infrared light pulsed at 256 times per second to measure light absorption in blood flow.”
Elsewhere, the buds themselves are now smaller (with a tweaked new shape to better match the ear canal) and with the smallest heart-rate monitor Apple’s managed to create. They’re also IP57 rated, so technically waterproof.
2. Live translation (and better stamina)
Another biggie that wasn’t expected to come is here: live translation. Apple says you’ll be able to pinch both stems to begin live translation, and ANC kicks in to reduce their voice a little when you’re getting the translation.
You’ll then simply be able to talk back, and your iPhone will display your words, and optionally read them out. Also, if two people wear AirPods Pro 3, you can just talk over the translation system – and it even claims to use some tech on-ear (ie. on AirPods) as well as on your iPhone.
Apple says: “Live Translation on AirPods is available in English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish, and will be coming to four more languages by the end of the year: Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (simplified).”
Any asterisks to that? One or two; Apple also states: “Live Translation may not be available in all regions or languages. For feature and language availability and system requirements, visit support.apple.com/en-us/121115.” Given that that’s a link to Apple Intelligence’s availability in different countries, it’ll depend on the availability of Apple’s AI where you are.
Want to talk stamina? Of course. The best that can be said of AirPods Pro 2 is that the battery life was ‘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 including the case.
And AirPods Pro 3 have improved upon this, with a juice pack capable of 10 hours in Hearing Aid mode with Transparency on, or 8 hours of standard use with ANC deployed.
3. Pricing and release date – it’s business as usual (hurrah!)
Both the AirPods Pro and the AirPods Pro 2 were priced at $249 / £249 / AU$399 when they first appeared, so the fact that AirPods Pro 3 are going to set you back $249 when they hit shelves should come as no surprise.
That said, plenty of the best wireless earbuds have risen in price in the last few years in line with inflation, but Apple made a point of hanging on at the same price as the original AirPods Pro from 2019.
Because the new AirPods Pro 3 have been launched at this price, the buds will actually come at the lower end of the premium earbuds range. I know! Who’d have thought?
They’re be available for pre-order now (September 9) and will begin hitting shelves (or your door mat) on September 19.
4. No IR cameras; no temperature sensing – and no mention of H3
It was widely speculated that one (or possibly two) much-vaunted features wouldn’t make the update – and that too has come to pass. Honestly, this may seem disappointing to some, but the arrival of Live Translation may well atone for those.
First off, there was no mention of a more powerful H3 chip, which was supposed to be quite the chipset for future features – though it’s possible it’s there and Apple just didn’t mention it.
Also, temperature sensing wasn’t announced, which seems odd given the heat-map-looking graphic Apple went with for its ‘Awe dropping’ event.
IR cameras built into AirPods Pro 3 also didn’t materialize. This is hardly a shock: back in December 2024, Mark Gurman’s Bloomberg report suggested that the tech for cameras in your AirPods just isn’t there yet, and pointed to a 2027 release date for any AirPods with this feature.
This year, another report claimed that AirPods with tiny AI cameras are tipped to come in 2027, and although I personally think they’ll be a huge safety win when they do arrive (and that actually, it could happen in 2026 rather than 2027, with the AirPods Pro 4) it was always a pipe dream to expect it today.
It’s not hard to see Apple’s big push towards health-tracking for its Pro-level AirPods, and with heart-rate monitoring now available in the Apple subsidiary brand Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 earbuds – and probably coming to the much-teased Beats Powerbeats Fit – ticker-taking in AirPods Pro 3 was all but a dead cert (…sorry for the phrasing).
But the omission of a couple of novel features (particularly temperature sensing), for such a big launch may be a slight let down.
5. Still no Lossless support
Arguably 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 of Apple 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 (which Apple gave to its Apple Music subscribers at no extra cost way back in June 2021) 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-party portable DAC to get you up to resolution, then a set of good wired 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 like Apple’s still-great EarPods or, since April 1, 2025, AirPods Max with added Lossless USB-C audio passthrough.
If AirPods Pro 3 could grant loyal Apple devotees access to Apple Music’s Hi-Res Lossless tier, it’d be a home run – which is why it’s truly surprising that the Cupertino giant still hasn’t.
Apple has announced new driver architecture, improved ANC, and improvements to its Hearing Aid Feature though, adding: “To help Hearing Aid users in louder environments like restaurants, Conversation Boost is now automatic, adding powerful amplification with background noise reduction.”
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becky.scarrott@futurenet.com (Becky Scarrott)
