It’s extremely rare to be in a briefing full of tech press at Apple and have every single person gasp at a feature that’s so good, especially something three generations in, but that’s what these new AirPods Pro 3s did to my group.
From the moment you hear the jaw-dropping transparency mode, you know you’re in for a treat, and it only gets better from there. The addition of heart rate tracking will appeal to some, but I imagine it will just be a fun addition for most people. That said, the core product has improved so much this year that you don’t need to upgrade solely for the flagship feature.
And don’t worry, Canadians, these still slide nicely under a winter touque.
The major upgrades
The AirPods Pro 3 (far left) are redesigned pretty substantially and feel different in your ear. But it also makes them more secure.
First and foremost, these are music-listening devices, and compared to the already impressive AirPod Pro 2s, they sound even more detailed and responsive. Music in Spatial Audio sounds phenomenal, like the recent remaster of Stan, by Emeiniem, which I actually think is one of the best Spatial Audio masters I’ve ever heard. Anyone who knows the song knows that it’s already really cinematic, and using spatial audio to separate out the thunderstorm so it’s crashing all around the listener is really cool. The other sound effect, like the marker scratch coming in from the side, is a cool presentation. I would have liked to have a little more movement in the rain and other effects, but overall, it proves how Spatial Audio can add drama to a track.
Overall, the clarity feels like the thing that’s been improved the most. I can feel the bass punches, the vocals are delightful, and the trebles feel sharp with a lot of nuance that wasn’t as apparent on older buds. These new AirPods Pro units punch hard, and if you want the best mobile listening experience without needing a cable, these are it.
With earbuds this good you definitely want to use a high resolution streaming service.
The Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) is also a nice upgrade. I’m not sure it’s enough to convince anyone with AirPods Pro 2 to upgrade, but it’s still an upgrade nonetheless. On the flip side of that coin, the transparency mode on the new AirPods Pro 3 is shockingly good. Every person I’ve seen try it has walked away with the impression that the sound quality is great, but the transparency is extremely good. One of my friends even thought it was working as a hearing aid, a feature that will be available on these someday, but isn’t available in Canada yet.
I didn’t notice a big difference in Adaptive Mode, which I use a lot when walking around outside. However, there is a new slider in the AirPods Pro settings with iOS 26 that allows you to change how strong the earbuds’ adaptive nature is, which is pretty cool. This also applies to AirPods Pro 2 models.
The accurate Force Touch stems return in AirPods Pro 3 to make on-earbud controls a breeze.
Finally, the secret piece of the puzzle is the new fit. Right from when I first tried these on, I immediately noticed that they burrowed into my ears differently than their predecessors. As a huge fan of the second-gen AirPods Pros, so I was worried that this could be a step back, but after using the new ones for a few days, I can confidently say that I find them even more comfortable and secure. Obviously, that will vary person by person, and I worry about how these will work with smaller ears, but at least Apple has included a new XXS eartip design in the box this year, insinuating that they should size down nicely.
One weird half-upgrade is the new battery life ratings. In your ears the buds last up to eight hours instead of six, but the charging case is only rated to last for 24 hours instead of 30. Personally, I’m not super worried about the trade-off, but it is odd to see Apple take a step backwards like this, especially since the case is more or less the same size.
Sport mode?
These buds don’t shift at all when I’m jogging.
We all knew this was coming with the launch of the Powerbeats Pro2 earbuds last spring, so now AirPods Pro 3 support heart rate tracking, allowing you to log a workout without using an Apple Watch. You’ll still need a phone with you to store the actual data, but at least the buds can now record how much effort you’re putting in via heart rate.
In my testing, it seemed to line up quite well with my Apple Watch Ultra 2, but if you want to dive deep into the accuracy of the sensor, I’d recommend the DC Rainmaker, who usually does extremely scientific tests on Apple’s health-related gear and compares it to actual medical-grade equipment.
The small black oval houses the skin and heart rate sensors.
While I don’t think a lot of people are going to buy these for their heart rate tracking, especially since the Powerbeats Pro 2 offer a few more features like step counting, they do offer another avenue for the average Apple shopper to get into Fitness+, and in turn maybe an Apple Watch, which is what I think the company’s real play is here.
I suspect that most people who do casual workouts don’t care that much about tracking their heart rate, and the people who do care will already have an Apple Watch. That said, if you already own these earbuds for the reasons I mentioned above, the heart rate tracking is a fun addition. There are tons of niche reasons that people could want these too, but considering they cost $329 in Canada, I think most people won’t be buying them as their main fitness device.
Apple is really opening up the Fitness app to more people this year.
Alongside these buds the Apple Fitness app is also receiving a new tab called ‘Workout.’ This opens up a handful of workouts you can do without an Apple Watch. These activities also have access to the new AI Workout Buddy and can be completed by taking your phone with you on an outdoor distance workout like a hike, or cycling. If you connect the new AirPods Pro or Powerbeats Pro 2 you can also do workouts like yoga, treadmill and rowing as long as you’re using an iPhone and the heart rate-tracking earbuds.
As you can hear in the video above Apple’s latest earbuds all have really outstanding microphones. Even the Powerbeats Pro sound better than you’d expect for something so sports-focused. The AirPods Pro 3 mic feels like a substantial upgrade. Apple has been adding “studio quality microphones” to a lot of its products since the 16 series and the new AirPods seem to be extremely close in quality to the flagship phones.
If you make a lot of calls with your AirPods in these new Pro models are going to be hard to beat.
The pocket translator
Every photo in this review was shot with an iPhone 16 Pro.
This feature feels the most magical of everything I’ve written about, but it’s not an exclusive feature to the AirPods Pro 3. Both the AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2 will also be included in the Apple Live Translation beta. So while I tested the new feature and found it extremely compelling, you don’t need to upgrade to these earbuds to use it. Therefore it won’t weigh that much into the final opinion of this review. You also need an Apple Intelligence-capable iPhone to do the computing on.
Moving past all that, this is one of those classic Apple moments where they came out a little bit after the competition, but have taken the lead in the sector. Apple is using machine learning to listen to full sentences to make sure that its translations retain the correct context. This idea is simple, but it makes all the difference.
You need to start the translation feature manually, but once you do, someone can talk to you in the language you selected, and after a slight delay as it listens in, you’ll start to hear what they’re saying. It’s pretty incredible, and while it’s not something I might use daily, I think it can unlock some magical moments as people connect in a way they never could.
Alex speaks Mexican Spanish and we tested out the earbuds quite heavily, but we only found success when speaking in a measured tone without making mistakes. Things like “umms” and mid-sentence trips can really throw the translation for a loop. When reading a passage from a book at a consistent speed Alex was able to hear my English translated to Spanish, but as soon as I started to go off the cuff and recount my night out, it started to get confused by the more off-the-cuff nature of my storytelling. All of that said, this is still an extremely impressive feature and as long as you work with its nuances, it should work quite well.
Live Translation is in Beta and works with the following languages: English, French (France), German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, Chinese (Simplified), Japanese, and Korean. The company is working on more languages so hopefully Canadian French is added soon. While you can likely make do in Canada using the default French option for brief translations, I’d imagine it won’t work well for the conversation-based translations that Apple pitched during the keynote last week. For example, Alex is from Mexico, so her Spanish is a little different than people who live in Spain and we could tell it was having a hard time with her dialect. But at the end of the day it opened up a very real avenue of conversation that wouldn’t have been there before.
Who should buy these?
From left to right: AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Pro 2, AirPods 4, AirPods 3, AirPods 2019, EarPods.
Truly there isn’t someone I wouldn’t recommend these too. Apple’s best buds have gotten so much better this year that it feels like a no-brainer to pick up a pair if you need new earphones. If you have AirPods Pro 2 already there is an upgraded here, but I wouldn’t say that the existing AirPod Pro 2 are bad by any means. They’ll also get a lot of the cool software features like translation.
People with older earbuds or anything without ANC would benefit from upgrading to the new AirPods Pro 3 without a doubt. The enhanced sound quality and the rock-solid ANC make take head and shoulders above the competition. I’ll also note that during my testing, I found the new buds to switch between my Apple devices extremely smoothly. It doesn’t seem like there is any new hardware that’s making that happen, but it’s cool to see Apple continuing to improve upon the AirPods’ flagship feature.
The new models are also IP57 rated, meaning they’re basically dust/water-proof. You shouldn’t swim with them but if you spend a lot of time running in rainy conditions these might last longer than other buds. The charging case and the buds both share this IP rating.
Overall, these take everything that was good about last year’s AirPod Pros and makes them more secure in your ears, better sounding and longer lasting. Throw in heart rate sensing and Live Translation and you’ve got a really appealing package. The AirPods Pro 3 cost $329 in Canada, and will go on sale September 19.
