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While the latest version of the AirPods Pro 2 has only recently been released, it looks like we might be seeing a new version sooner rather than later. Although we'd like to say we'll see them at Apple's imminent iPhone launch event, Glowtime, it's now looking more likely that it will be in the early months of 2025.
Never say never, however, and let's take a look at what we might expect from the newest version of Apple's best in-ear noise-canceling headphones.
AirPods Pro 3: Release date and price
The AirPods Pro 3's release date is a contentious topic. There are some, such as X leaker Kosutami, who believe that the new AirPods are coming sooner rather than later, perhaps even as soon as today's Apple Glowtime event.
Others, like Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, reckon we can expect the AirPods Pro 3 in early 2025 instead, pushing that release date back a couple of months. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo agrees, giving the AirPods Pro 3 a 2025 release window.
Most recently, Mark Gurman reckons in his pre-Apple event Power-On newsletter that the buds are more likely to appear in early 2025, where the AirPods 4 and the AirPods Max 2 are more likely to appear a bit earliert
The short history of AirPods also leans towards a later release. The original AirPods Pro arrived in 2019, with the second generation coming three years later. Regular AirPods, meanwhile, have arrived in 2016, 2019 and 2021. Having said that, the USB-C refresh of the AirPods Pro 2 was announced alongside the iPhone 14, so we could see the AirPods sooner rather than later.
Price-wise, things are a little murkier. Previously, the AirPods Pro have cost around $249, and it's more than likely they'll be sticking at that price point. Having said that, the competition has started to raise the prices of comparable headphones, such as Sony with its WF-1000XM5, so there could well be some form of price raise with the AirPods Pro 3. We can't see them getting too expensive, but don't be surprised if there's a $20-$30 price premium.
AirPods Pro 3: Rumored design and features
The scarcity of AirPods Pro 3 rumors and leaks is arguably more evidence that the earbuds aren’t just around the corner — though it could also be Apple just keeping a tighter lid on things than usual.
Back in October 2023, when predicting a 2025 release, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman stated that the upcoming earbuds are “expected to get a new design and chip” — presumably the H3, given the last two generations have packed an H1 and H2 respectively.
At the same time, Gurman also suggested that AirPods Pro 3 would follow in the footsteps of the Apple Watch with “health features… tied to hearing”.
“The company is working on a new hearing test feature that will play different tones and sounds to allow the AirPods to determine how well a person can hear,” he wrote elsewhere. “The idea is to help users screen for hearing issues, not unlike how the Apple Watch ECG app checks for heart problems.”
But it’s not just hearing where AirPods Pro could be looking to introduce health metrics. Apple is also reportedly working on packing the new earbuds with sensors such as a biometric monitor and temperature sensor. The latter might be especially useful as ear temperature is more accurate than measurements taken from the wrist — though, of course, you don’t wear earbuds all the time as you do a smartwatch.
Along with these additional features, you can also expect improvements on what we already have. It would be a surprise if sound quality wasn’t improved, and battery life wasn’t lengthened from the six hours seen on the second generation.
But one specific is offered by the leaker Kosutami, who claims that the next-generation Pro product will have “much better” digital ANC (Active Noise Cancellation). That, again, isn’t a huge surprise, given Apple boasted that there was a 2x improvement in ANC between the first and generation earbuds.
Finally — and consider this point extremely speculative at this point — one of Apple’s patents shows a new-look case for true wireless earbuds with touch-screen media controls. To be clear, Apple patents loads of stuff all the time, so there’s no guarantee that this will ever be utilized in any product, let alone AirPods Pro 3, but something to bear in mind all the same.
AirPods Pro 3: What do I want to see?
The AirPods Pro 2 are still some of the best headphones around, but there are a couple of things that aren't rumored that we'd like to see come to the buds. For one, wireless hi-res lossless streaming would be a massive boon — and before you say 'but Bluetooth isn't capable of that!', there is some method to our earbud insanity.
This year saw the launch of the Vision Pro headset, and with it came a surprise feature for audiophiles that own both 1. a pair of AirPods Pro 2 with USB-C, and 2. a Vision Pro. Connecting the two of them together would net you, somehow, hi-res lossless wireless playback so that you could listen to the best quality that Apple Music has to offer. Why is this so important? Well, the iPhone 16 is coming out soon, and that could bring with it some internals that might enable that same feature with the AirPods Pro 3 — and we're hoping they do.
Beyond that, it's looking like the AirPods Pro 3 could well have many of the features that we actually want — now we just have to wait and see what comes to fruition over the next few months.
AirPods Pro 3: Outlook
The AirPods Pro 3 sound more promising with every rumor, but we're unfortunately unlikely to see them as soon as we are their upgraded stablemates. We like what we hear so far though, and we can't wait to see what they're going to look like when they are finally unveiled.
When we see them remains the key question, of course. Will it be later today when Tim Cook takes to the stage at Apple Park for the iPhone 16 event, or will it be later? Until Apple reveals them to the world, we can't quite sure. Until then, we'll keep reading all the news we possibly can so that we get a better picture of when to expect them.
