Apple’s Latest AirPods Are the Commuter Upgrade of the Year
My most deeply held hot take? Apple is actually a jewelry company. It’s already got the Watch, its smart glasses are a work in progress, and its AirPods are the most ubiquitous item you’ll see hanging out most commuters’ ears on any given morning. That means the debut of its AirPods Pro 3 buds is a big deal, especially if you’ve been waiting for a new pair with longer battery life and improved active noise cancellation. As luck would have it, that’s exactly what launched today alongside Apple’s razor-thin iPhone Air and blood pressure monitoring Apple Watch Series 11.
Three years in the making, I’ve been hands-on with the new AirPods Pro 3 at their launch in Apple Park, Cupertino, and they already feel like a major upgrade that’s destined to sell by the truckload. Here’s everything you need to know about the latest generation of Apple’s wireless earbuds.
Better sound. Record battery life
As is the case with any new pair of AirPods, Apple claims the new Pro 3 buds are its best-sounding earphones yet, and there’s good reason to believe it. They’ve got a refined sonic architecture to improve the nuance behind its audio, they come with foam-infused eartips in five sizes to provide a better fit for a greater variety of ears and, most significantly, their active noise cancellation is claimed to be twice as accomplished as the second generation AirPods Pro. That means more surrounding hubbub and random squawking around you is filtered out, so you can keep vibing to Royel Otis, Sabrina Carpenter, or Earl Sweatshirt. I’m not here to judge your jam of choice.
And if you’re the type to wear your AirPods at all hours of the day? These buds now offer up to eight hours of battery life before they need to pop back in their charging case for a quick refresh. That’s just as long as a flight from London to New York, or an entire Sunday afternoon of Premier League football on BBC Radio 5 Live. Although I’ve always found my AirPods to be pretty resilient against the oft-tempestuous British elements, the AirPods Pro 3 should be even more so with IP57 sweat and water resistance. This means they can survive a dunk in up to one meter deep for 30 minutes, although I wouldn’t advise you going for a swim with them in tow.
Live translation skills
At this point, I’m embarrassed to admit just how much I’ve come to rely on the AirPods Pro 2’s “Find My” capabilities where their case will play a ringing alarm if they get lost at the back of the couch, the bottom of your rucksack or, in my case, anywhere else imaginable. Although the AirPods Pro 3 don’t boast any smarts that are quite as transformative, they do have a few new tricks up their sleeve. Most promisingly, they claim to be able to live translate conversations in foreign language, such as booking a restaurant or checking into a hotel. These kinds of AI-powered features are notoriously tricky to pull off well, which is probably why only English, French German, Portuguese, and Spanish will be supported at launch with Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese to follow by the year’s end.
Just like Apple’s excellent Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 from earlier this year, they’ve also got a built-in heart rate sensor that’ll keep tabs on your exertion as you get a sweat on. Given most workout obsessives who like to keep tabs on these things will likely have an Apple Watch or Garmin to provide the same information, it’s the AirPods Pro 3’s audio that feels like the real game-changer here.
Already sold on the AirPods Pro 3? They’re available to pre-order today on September 9 and release next Friday, September 19.
