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Apple’s AirPods have well and truly embedded themselves into popular culture in the nine years they’ve been blessing the ears of Apple fans. You’ll spy the iconic wireless earbuds nuzzled into lugholes pretty much everywhere – on trains and planes, on your TV screen and the silver one. It’s hardly surprising that they are the world’s most popular earbuds.

The flagship AirPods model remains the AirPods Pro 2 launched three years ago, and while Apple did lightly update them in 2023 with a USB-C port, IP55 rating and lossless audio support with the Vision Pro, the ripe old age of their design elsewhere does beg the question: where are the AirPods Pro 3?

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Indeed, in recent months rumors of new AirPods Pros arriving have been circling the internet with the fervor of sharks circling their next meal, and, excitingly for AirPods enthusiasts (including us!), the signs are pointing to a launch later this year or early next – and potentially as soon as September.

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Latest AirPods Pro 3 news

The AirPods Pro 3 could feature… cameras? A new feature in iOS 26, spotted by 9to5Mac, suggests there will be some camera smarts built into upcoming AirPods, likely to facilitate real-time hand gesture tracking.

Real-time translation could come to the new AirPods Apple is late to the live translation game, but according to Bloomberg it could arrive as part of the anticipated iOS19 update, allowing iPhone and AirPods users to overcome language barriers and easily hold conversations.

When is the AirPods Pro 3’s expected release date?

The early running from some tipsters suggested that the new AirPods could launch during June’s WWDC 2025, potentially alongside an upgraded AirTag, but nothing materialized. Boo. If that had happened, then Apple might have been using the occasion to launch a software interface to allow third parties to offer new functionality for the headphones.

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(function(){if(document.currentScript){var e=document.currentScript.parentNode;if(e.classList.contains(‘dtads-location’)){if(!e.classList.contains(‘dtads-‘+window.DTScenario.getExperience())){e.parentNode.removeChild(e)}}}}());This would align with the typical cycle of AirPods, which tend to get refreshed every two to three years. For example, the AirPods 4 were announced in September 2024, three years after the previous-gen AirPods 3 were released. As the gap between the first and second generation of the AirPods Pro was three years (first in 2019, then in 2022), a 2025 arrival would be fit. That said, two respected analysts and Apple watchers, Ming Chi-Kuo and Jeff Pu, recently suggested that the AirPods Pro 3 may not show up until 2026.

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However, not all is lost for a 2025 AirPods Pro 3 release date. References to the AirPods Pro 3 found in the iPhone’s iOS 26 operating system source code suggests Apple’s new earbuds could make their way into our ears this year. It’s feasible that 2026 is still a possibility, as this is the software that will be used into early 2026, but that seems a little unlikely.

Assuming that Apple does indeed announce the AirPods Pro 3 in the fall along with the next iPhone, history tells us that we can expect them to be available for pre-order within hours of the announcement. They’ll likely start shipping 10-14 days after that.Simon Cohen / Digital Trends

How much will the AirPods Pro 3 cost?

Apple has announced all three previous AirPods Pro versions (the originals, second-gen, and USB-C update) at a regular price of $249.

There are, of course, no guarantees in the tech world – especially in the current economic climate of tit-for-tat tariffs – but it’s a reasonable guess that the company will maintain this price for the AirPods Pro 3.

A $249 RRP would keep them firmly at the top of the AirPods line, above the often-discounted-to-$169 AirPods Pro 2 (which will most likely be discontinued in the wake of the Pro 3’s arrival), the $179 AirPods 4 with ANC and the $129 AirPods 4.

AirPods Pro 3: What the rumors say

Speculation among aforementioned Apple-watching analysts, plus notable journalist Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, has centered around one key AirPods Pro 3 area: sensors.

(function(){if(document.currentScript){var e=document.currentScript.parentNode;if(e.classList.contains(‘dtads-location’)){if(!e.classList.contains(‘dtads-‘+window.DTScenario.getExperience())){e.parentNode.removeChild(e)}}}}());The prevailing belief is that Apple will incorporate a new sensor suite capable of tracking temperature and heart rate at a minimum. Apple filed a patent for this in 2017 and, given that the Apple-owned Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 have heart rate sensors, it seems like a fairly safe bet. Speaking of health functions, it’s also highly likely that the Pro 3 will continue the Pro 2’s innovative double-up as an over-the-counter hearing aid, with the hearing test also embedded.John Higgins / Digital Trends

However, one of the wilder rumors suggests that the AirPods Pro 3 could also get some kind of embedded camera. Not so much for taking photos and video (though that would be intriguing) but instead for real-time hand-gesture tracking, perhaps as an alternative to using the earbuds’ onboard controls, or as an alternative to using Siri for controlling functions on an iPhone. This rumor feels less likely – at least for the third-gen AirPods Pro. After all, making a camera so tiny that it can fit into an earbud brings issues with it – power consumption, heat dissipation, miniscule and costly components, not to mention privacy.

(function(){if(document.currentScript){var e=document.currentScript.parentNode;if(e.classList.contains(‘dtads-location’)){if(!e.classList.contains(‘dtads-‘+window.DTScenario.getExperience())){e.parentNode.removeChild(e)}}}}());Other rumors point to an Apple patent that detailed a design for a charging case with a built-in touchscreen as a sign of what’s to come on the AirPods Pro 3.

Could Apple do it? Certainly. JBL has already added this feature to several wireless earbuds models, including the Tour Pro 3.

Will Apple do it? It’s hard to see why, given it’s not done something like that before and would come at a cost to battery life – which it should really improve in the next generation of the Pro earbuds.

The AirPods Pro 2 deliver a six-hour earbud and 30-hour total battery life, but plenty of the best wireless earbuds in the premium market offer better earbud battery lives of eight hours or more, including the Sony WF-1000XM5.

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It’s also unclear if people actually find JBL’s touchscreen useful, despite the many functions it lets you access – Apple’s unlikely to play with gimmicks here. The biggest reason for a touchscreen charging case is to reduce the need to use your phone. Since there are only a few scenarios where people use earbuds without their phones, Apple may not see the benefit.

(function(){if(document.currentScript){var e=document.currentScript.parentNode;if(e.classList.contains(‘dtads-location’)){if(!e.classList.contains(‘dtads-‘+window.DTScenario.getExperience())){e.parentNode.removeChild(e)}}}}());Speaking of the charging case, it’s almost a given that the AirPods Pro 3 will ditch the physical Bluetooth pairing button in favor of the capacitive touch version used on the AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with ANC. It’s also highly probable it will support wireless charging, and there has been some speculation over whether Apple would ditch wired charging via the USB-C port altogether, but it’s probably unlikely for this next generation.

Finally, most observers agree that we can expect better sound quality and further improvements to Apple’s already superb active noise canceling and transparency technologies, with “previously-accurate” (according to MacRumors) leaker Kosutami claiming on X that their Digital ANC will be “much better” than that of the AirPods Pro 2.

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What we’re hoping for on the AirPods Pro 3

Zeke Jones / Digital Trends

Additional sensors on the AirPods Pro 3 make sense. Apple is already all-in on health and fitness via the Apple Watch, and having additional health data via the AirPods will make that tracking more accurate and useful.

As mentioned previously, battery life is also high on my wishlist. Sure, the current six hours in the Pro 2 earbuds is adequate, but we know from other companies that it can be much longer – and who ever said “no thanks” to longer battery life?

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I want to see Apple adopt true Bluetooth Multipoint. At the moment, you can switch quite easily between your Apple products thanks to iCloud, but if you happen to use a Windows laptop for work, there is no way to keep the AirPods Pro connected to your iPhone and your computer simultaneously. It’s high time Apple joined the Multipoint world along with pretty much every other recent, notable wireless earbuds release – at this point, the AirPods family is one of few product lines that doesn’t support this handy technology.

(function(){if(document.currentScript){var e=document.currentScript.parentNode;if(e.classList.contains(‘dtads-location’)){if(!e.classList.contains(‘dtads-‘+window.DTScenario.getExperience())){e.parentNode.removeChild(e)}}}}());In a similar vein, I want Apple to futureproof the AirPods Pro 3 with access to Bluetooth Auracast broadcasts. This would allow the Pro 3 to tune into publicly shared audio channels (such as audio from multiple TV screens at an airport) when the feature finally takes off. It could choose to do this within iOS and/or on the earbuds themselves.

Apple teased us when it said the AirPods Pro 2 with USB-C could do wireless lossless audio. It wasn’t a lie, but it came with a monster caveat: it only works with Apple’s Vision Pro AR headset. I want Apple to move forward with this feature so that (at least) it works with iPhones. If there’s a sound quality benefit to lossless audio (which many music fans would agree with), it shouldn’t be reserved for the Vision Pro – not least when Apple Music has, for years now, delivered hi-res audio streaming.

(function(){if(document.currentScript){var e=document.currentScript.parentNode;if(e.classList.contains(‘dtads-location’)){if(!e.classList.contains(‘dtads-‘+window.DTScenario.getExperience())){e.parentNode.removeChild(e)}}}}());In similar vein, improved sound quality feels like a must. The Pro 2 still hold their own amongst the current competition, but given that the class-leading Sony WF-1000XM5 (which sit pretty at the top of our best wireless earbuds buying guide) are due a refresh soon, the Pro 3 could find themselves lagging behind if they fail to move the Pro 2’s audio chops along.

It feels almost certain that Apple will launch the AirPods Pro 3 with an all-new chipset – likely called the H3, given the first AirPods debuted the H1, and the Pro 2 launched the H2. This upgraded chip would give Apple the chance to improve audio quality and ANC, power enhanced health tracking features, and extend battery life.

Finally, Apple could also give us the option of plugging the AirPods Pro 3 charging case into a 3.5mm-toting, Bluetooth-less analog audio source like a plane in-flight entertainment system, and use the charging case as a wireless transmitter to send audio to the earbuds.

This wouldn’t be an innovation. Bowers & Wilkins, LG, JBL and Jabra all provide this feature on current and previous wireless earbuds.

The AirPods Pro 2 charging case already contains an ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless transmitter for the Find My feature, and UWB would make an excellent choice for wireless transmission to the AirPods.