AirPods Pro 3 - What Apple DIDN'T say...
What Apple didn’t say about the AirPods Pro 3 is that its case is bigger than the AirPods Pro 2. Not by a lot, and it remains to be seen whether I can feel the difference, but it is a little taller and wider. The AirPods Pro 3 also uses the same H2 chip as its predecessor, and although it now has more juice in the earbuds, the case contains only 2 extra charges for a total of 24 hours battery, instead of the previous 30 hours.
Nonetheless, I am impressed with the new AirPods Pro 3, because even though the buds are smaller, they’ve actually managed to extend its battery life to 8 hours compared to the previous 6. It also has a new acoustic port that moves more air and thus, possibly improves bass response, improved water resistance of IP57, and a new heart rate sensor.
Squeezing all that tech into an even more tiny earbud, now that’s impressive.
But, my biggest complaint about the AirPods Pro has always been their fit, and this seems like the first real attempt to improve the fit since 2019. Like I said, they’re smaller, but they’ve also got a new shape which Apple claims will be better compared to the previous model.
One more factor which could improve fit are the new foam and silicone hybrid eartips. These are tips which are silicone on the outside and foam on the inside. In my experience with these kinds of eartips, they do plug in better compared to just silicone, and the foam also helps with noise isolation so they could, like Apple said, improve noise canceling.
About noise canceling, Apple’s making some bombastic claims about 2x better noise canceling compared to AirPods Pro 2, and 4x more than the original AirPods Pro. I’m not so convinced that the improvement’s that big. We’ll have to see when I put them through my usual battery of tests. So if you want to see if the improvement’s really that big, or if it’s just hot air, get subscribed and tap the bell button to stay notified.
For sound quality, they’ve put in a new acoustic port which they claim improves bass response, and widens the soundstage. Seems plausible, because after all, sound is air in motion. In other words, if you can move more air within the earbuds’ chassis, you can drastically improve bass response. The new eartips will play a huge role in this because if they can keep the air from leaking, there will be more air pressure which translates to deep impactful bass. Again, we’ll have to see if that is really the case.
Hopefully these improvements come without cutting corners in terms of performance. I’m excited to see if their microphones and sound quality have improved over the previous model, and whether noise canceling is actually twice as effective now. As soon as I get my hands on them I’ll come back with a review so if you want to see my take, get subscribed and tap the bell button to stay notified.
The AirPods Pro 3 is available for pre-order now at $249, available in stores starting September 19th 2025.
