Review: Three Months With The AirPods Pro 3

Whenever Apple releases new AirPods, there's almost always an argument to be made that they're the best earbuds on the market. It has been this way since the company entered this category a decade ago, and it continues to be true with the AirPods Pro 3, released in September alongside the iPhone 17 lineup.

After several firmware updates, flights taken, and workouts completed, it's much easier to get a clear picture of AirPods Pro 3 three months in than a few weeks after launch. While most of what we said in our initial AirPods Pro 3 review in September remains true, Apple's best wireless earbuds are worth giving another look to understand what makes the third-generation such an impressive leap forward, how the new ear tips have changed the experience, and how these earbuds that look so similar to the previous model have brought so much new to the table. Here's our definitive AirPods Pro 3 review, three months in.

At a glance, the AirPods Pro 3 look similar to the second-generation earbuds. The case is about the same size and the earbuds have a slightly shorter stem. Looks can be deceiving, though, as the company reengineered this product to make it sound better, fit in more ears, and be more resilient. For example, both the AirPods and the charging case are now IP57-rated, offering better dust, sweat, and water resistance.

Regarding comfort, I've always been fortunate enough to have every AirPods generation sit perfectly in my ears... except for this one. Apple uses a new foam tip material that goes deeper into your ear canal. This is what makes the Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) much more effective, but it also led to me suffering for a few days until the tips got comfortable.

There have even been reports of ears bleeding, and I was worried that I'd need to switch back to the AirPods Pro 2. For the first time, I noticed the difference of Apple's engineering from one generation to the other, as I've always used the medium ear tip, but with the new earbuds, the large ear tips fit better. Still, after a couple of weeks of discomfort, the foam tips adjusted into my ear canals, and they now feel as comfortable as previous models. That said, don't forget to take the acoustic seal test and endure for a little longer even if they don't feel as comfortable as a previous model did.

Unlike the jump from the original AirPods Pro to the second generation, Apple technically maintained similar components on the inside of AirPods Pro 3, including the company's H2 chip. Still, Apple repositioned them to improve how audio passes through the earbuds, making the listening experience clearer with heavier bass and making the high-end response even better. As the company masters the Spatial Audio experience, I also started to notice more nuances to my favorite songs, and this is one of the key features of these earbuds.

Have you ever had the experience of repeatedly listening to a song and one day suddenly realizing there's an extra guitar, or a specific way an orchestra sounds in the background, or how the backing vocal complements the lead voice? Well, the AirPods Pro 3 made me realize all those little details. And more than highlighting how Apple improved its audio or the EQ, the thing that matters the most is that AirPods Pro 3 made me feel closer to the songs and artists I enjoy the most -– and now for longer with the longer battery life.

The AirPods Pro 3 sound is responsive, and I never hear any distortion. These earbuds are great for songs, podcasts, movies, and calls, all while lasting longer than ever on a charge. That said, some users reported weird noises and high-pitched sounds, but I haven't experienced that myself.

With the AirPods Pro 3, Apple focused on an improved Active Noise Cancellation feature. It says this functionality is twice as effective as the previous generation, and four times better than the first AirPods Pro introduced in 2019. While the company doesn't say what range the ANC covers, most of this improvement comes from the new foam tip.

In general, if you're listening to a song at around 50% volume, you already have most outside noise blocked thanks to the new tips. When you turn ANC on, it truly feels like you're isolating yourself from your surroundings. This is great for flights, walking near construction sites, or when you're working in a noisy environment. Still, if you're listening to a podcast or watching a movie or TV show, it's possible to hear a bit of background noise, especially if it happens suddenly.

I also really enjoy Apple's Voice Isolation mode, which feels like a reverse ANC. Even if there's noise around you, the person you're talking to doesn't hear anything -– except if someone quickly walks near you while speaking and the AirPods think they're part of the conversation. Besides that, it's impressive to see how much Apple was able to improve this feature over the past few years.

If improved sound quality and longer battery life don't sell you on the AirPods Pro 3, the all-new heart rate sensor might. Just like Powerbeats Pro 2, Apple added a heart monitor to its best-selling earbuds. A custom sensor pulses infrared light at 256 times per second to read your heart rate while you're working out, and it intelligently starts measuring your heartbeats whenever you start a practice through the Apple Watch, Fitness app, or a third-party app.

Not only does Apple expand the amount of data users can access without an Apple Watch on, but it also makes the company's wearable more reliable. As a runner, I usually have a few standard spots I use for heart rate measuring, and while it's unclear if Apple will ever fix that for a single Apple Watch experience, AirPods Pro 3 triples the heart rate monitoring range by offering two extra measure canals.

As a result, I never lose track of my heart rate during a workout anymore. This helps me make more mindful decisions with workout apps like Gentler Streak or The Outsiders, which read information from the Health app. In the past three months, I was able to push myself harder for new Personal Bests in distance and speed, as I can reliably check my heart rate.

It's interesting to see the long journey from the first AirPods to the AirPods Pro 3. That first model offered an effortless listening experience. You could just put them in your ears and start to listen to your favorite tunes. By taking one off, you could briefly pause the song and put it back on to resume. AirPods were so simple that they almost seemed magical.

Almost a decade later, the AirPods Pro 3 almost overwhelm me. Not only do they offer the best way to listen to my favorite tracks, but they can monitor my heart rate, stop media playing when I fall asleep, work as a hearing aid device, and so much more.

As a matter of fact, AirPods Pro 3 has so much packed in that I could spend hours covering every feature. Beyond sound quality, it offers hearing protection and a hearing assistant, understands head gestures to take or reject calls, adapts volume and conversation awareness to your surroundings, intelligently manages battery health, supports Find My, lets you trigger the camera shutter from the stem, and even helps you understand other languages through Live Translation, which we'll go into greater depth about below.

With AI becoming more and more prevalent, Apple is using its own local model to translate a conversation. This ensures a level of security and privacy we aren't seeing nearly often enough in the AI space. Plus, since the AirPods Pro 3 were released, the company has updated the Live Translation feature to make it available in nine different languages and finally expanded it to European users.

By pressing and holding both stems, you can select the language you speak and the one you'll be hearing. After downloading the models for each language, you'll get a translation almost in real time in your ears. By using the Translate app on your iPhone, you can show the translation of what you're saying to the other person, or if both are using AirPods 4, AirPods Pro 2, or AirPods Pro 3, the translation will happen on-device in both directions.

Of course, this functionality works best if no slang words are used, which means it's most useful when asking for the price of an item in a shop, ordering a coffee, or getting directions. More important than that, this is a feature that will only get better with support for more languages coming in the near future.

Apple greatly improved the battery life of AirPods Pro 3. The earbuds will last up to 8 hours with Active Noise Cancellation and up to 10 hours in Transparency with Hearing Aid. Previously, users could have up to 6 hours of listening time. During longer workouts or even throughout a work day, it's rarely necessary to take these earbuds out to charge them.

Besides that, the new AirPods have an Optimized Charge Limit feature, limiting your AirPods to an 80% charge for most of the time when they're in the charging case and only reaching 100% when necessary. With Charging Notifications, you always know when to charge your device. This functionality is great, especially now that the total battery life has dropped to 24 hours, down from the 30 hours of the previous generation.

In general, these battery features have made my experience with AirPods Pro 3 more enjoyable, and I don't have the feeling that I'm always running out of battery, which happened quite often with AirPods 4. Those earbuds and their charging case seemed to always need more power.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the AirPods Pro 3 are probably the best earbuds you can find on the market right now. That's especially true if you are an iPhone user (and an added bonus if you subscribe to Apple Music). The sound quality is unmatched, and all the other features make these earbuds the best and most reliable option currently on sale.

Often, earbuds have great sound but a mediocre transparency mode, or they have Hearing Aid support but audio quality is lacking. Apple checks all the boxes, and even though I wouldn't mind a bit more battery for both the earbuds and the charging case, Apple has done an outstanding job with this generation. In addition to all of that, Apple also improved the Find My capabilities with a second-generation ultra wideband chip, which expands the range you can use Precision Find to locate the case with an iPhone 16 or iPhone 17.

The AirPods Pro 3 retail for $249, but have already gone on sale more than once. While the AirPods Pro 3 make a strong case at their MSRP, they're an even better value when you find them at a discounted price. That said, even if you're one of the early adopters of AirPods Pro 2, the upgrade is still worth it for the improved ANC, heart rate sensor, IP57, and longer battery life per charge.