During today’s Awe Dropping event, Apple announced AirPods Pro 3, the next generation of the company’s high-end wireless earbuds. Coming three years after the debut of their predecessors, AirPods Pro 3 feature a rethought design, increased battery life, improved Active Noise Cancellation, and a heart rate sensor, alongside several new software features.
Apple says they have re-engineered the shape of AirPods Pro to make them a better fit for more users. The buds themselves are smaller with a more center-aligned ear tip to improve stability. They now boast IP57 dust, sweat, and water resistance to better hold up to weather and workouts, and the tips now come in a new XXS size. They continue to support the same pressing and swiping gestures for playback control, as well as the new camera remote capabilities coming to AirPods this fall.
While AirPods Pro 3 feature a smaller form factor, their case has increased slightly in size over the previous generation, growing a bit taller and wider. The case offers up to 24 hours of battery life, with the buds capable of playing audio for up to eight hours on a single charge with ANC enabled and up to ten hours with Transparency mode enabled. The case also includes the updated U2 chip for improved Precision Finding in Find My.
Transparency mode is more personalized to make voices sound more natural. Meanwhile, ANC is vastly improved, with Apple saying AirPods Pro 3 are capable of cancelling twice as much noise as the previous generation and four times as much as the original AirPods Pro, thanks to a combination of ultra low-noise microphones, advanced computational audio, and a new foam infusion in the ear tips. In terms of sound quality, the buds incorporate a new multiport acoustic architecture for better airflow, bass response, and clarity, as well as a wider soundstage.
Apple has increasingly positioned AirPods Pro as health devices, and that effort is taking another big step with the inclusion of an infrared sensor for heart rate monitoring. With just the combination of AirPods Pro 3 and the iPhone’s Fitness app, users can track workouts, view real-time stats onscreen, and hear insights from Workout Buddy on Apple Intelligence-enabled phones.
The other Apple Intelligence feature coming to AirPods Pro 3 (as well as AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 with ANC) is Live Translation. When the user is having a conversation with someone speaking a supported language other than their own, AirPods will play real-time audio translations of the phrases being spoken while using ANC to lower the volume of the speaker so the translation is clear. The user’s iPhone will also translate their speech into the other person’s language and display it onscreen to facilitate conversation. Live Translation will be available in English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish at launch, with Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (simplified) coming later this year.
Finally, the new AirPods Pro are accompanied by a couple of updates for hearing health. Hearing Protection is coming to the EU and UK, having been certified in those regions. Conversation Boost is now automatically enabled for Hearing Aid users to amplify voices and reduce background noise. And with the increased battery life of AirPods Pro 3, Hearing Aid users can wear their AirPods for 67% longer than before on a single charge.
AirPods Pro 3 cost $249 and are available for pre-order now, with delivery and in-store availability starting Friday, September 19.
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