AirPods Pro 3 vs. AirPods Pro 2: What's changed and what's the same

At Tuesday's iPhone 17 launch event, the iPhone Air stole the spotlight, but Apple launched new smartwatches and headphones, too. In the more-or-less expected category, we got the AirPods Pro 3, the latest upgrade to its line of high-end bluetooth earbuds. Not counting a small nudge to add USB-C charging in 2023, it's been almost three years since the AirPods Pro 2 were released, so an upgrade was about due.

Just because we expected this, though, doesn't mean it's unwelcome. Billy Steele, audio expert at our sister publication Engadget, got to try out the AirPods Pro 3 at the launch event, and again afterward. He wrote that its improved active noise cancellation (ANC) managed to cut out environmental sound in a marble-lined room with no dampening whatsoever. He also said the new foam ear tips are a lot comfier than the earlier rubberized tips, and they do an even better job of blocking ambient noise, too.

So, the AirPods Pro 3 clearly offer some serious quality-of-life improvements at about the same list price as the AirPods Pro 2. That's good, because Apple removed the Pro 2 earbuds from its online store soon after the Pro 3 pre-order link went live. While the older models will certainly still be available at third-party retailers like Amazon for weeks, the writing is on the wall.

It goes without saying that the new AirPods Pro 3 are undoubtedly a great upgrade for anyone still using the original AirPods Pro first released in 2019. But the question for Pro 2 users becomes: Is it worth making the leap to the AirPods Pro 3? To that end, let's run down what's different about the new models — and what's stayed more or less the same.

New or improved features on AirPods Pro 3

A lot of the big differences with the AirPods Pro 3 are iterative improvements. The external design hasn't changed much, except for the foam ear tips, but the design (supposedly based on scans of more than 10,000 human ears) is meant to make it harder for them to fall out. The casing is also IP57 waterproof and sweat-resistant for the first time.

ANC likewise isn't new, but it's gotten significantly better. Again, in his initial trials, Engadget's Billy Steele noted "the AirPods Pro 3 silenced the busy demo area outside of the keynote" and reduced noise in a simulated airplane cabin as well. In addition to the improved electronics and tweaked design, he also credited the updated foam ear tips with significantly improving the passive noise blocking.

Battery life has also enjoyed a major upgrade. Tech manufacturers love to exaggerate battery life estimates, so the stated specs of eight hours (or 10 without ANC) may be an outside chance, but you can at least expect your charge to last longer than before. Beyond that, there are some genuinely new features that may swing you toward the AirPods Pro 3, depending on what you need out of your earphones.

Heart rate monitor

Apple has lately been pushing to turn earbuds into health monitoring tools, similar to how it's already positioned the Apple Watch. We're generally on board, especially since it has the potential to kickstart a long-overdue conversation about hearing health.

The AirPods Pro 3 don't have a body temperature monitor as we expected, but they do add a heart-rate monitor, a calories-burned counter and syncing with fitness apps on the iPhone and Apple Watch. You can even have your personal AI "workout buddy" scan your fitness history and motivate you with personalized in-ear remarks while you exercise. The downside is that these health features only work during an active workout — AirPods can't track your resting heart rate all day like an Apple Watch can.

Spatial audio

The AirPods Pro 3 boosts ANC so you hear less unwanted sound, but its most interesting sound feature is what it does with the sound you do hear. According to the launch event, Apple's engineers have repositioned the speakers in the new model to achieve the closest thing to surround sound that earbuds can provide. A lot of this comes from breakthroughs in the use of airflow, with a set of chambers and vents coordinated to make audio wider and deeper.

The idea is that whatever you're hearing — be it a TV show, a podcast or music — you'll get a fuller range with elements more clearly differentiated. The Pro 3 also features updated audio drivers to really hammer the soundscape home. Spatial audio isn't new to AirPods Pro, of course, but the switched-up driver is designed to take it to a new level here.

What's mostly the same

While the AirPods Pro 3 have some major updates under the hood (as detailed above), the design isn't a radical departure from its predecessor. And the basic feature set is largely the same, up to and including two impressive features — one new to the AirPods platform, one that arrived late last year.

Live translation

Live translation is a genuinely cool feature we were all waiting for, even though Apple isn't the first to make it happen. Along with the launch of the AirPods Pro 3, Apple is adding live translation to the AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2. On all devices, it requires a connected iPhone to work, but you've presumably got one of those if you're wondering whether to buy the latest AirPods.

AirPods Pro 3 uses Apple Intelligence to translate incoming speech in real time, while ANC lowers the volume on the speaker's actual voice so you can focus on the translation. You can then speak aloud and show the other person a text translation of your words into their language — or, if you're both wearing AirPods, you can both simply talk and get translated live.

Apple Intelligence probably isn't ready to trust with complex conversations, but the goal here is for it to be enough to help you go shopping or find basic directions in a foreign country. You'll be able to turn it on by pressing and holding your AirPods, mapping translation to your iPhone's action button or asking Siri.

Hearing aid mode

Yes, the AirPods Pro 2 and 3 can double as full-on hearing aids — at least for folks with mild to moderate hearing loss. They don't offer the discreet appearance or battery life of prescription models, but for someone who's developing hearing loss, they're worth trying out, especially given their comparatively modest price tag. Which brings us to the final key similarity between the two AirPods Pro models.

Price

One of the best things that hasn't changed from the AirPods Pro 2 to the new model is the price. Between new features and updates, we expected a sharp jump, but the AirPods Pro 3 are retailing at $249. That's the same price as the last model, though being older, the Pro 2 earbuds are frequently discounted by $80 or more.

These new AirPods aren't going to revolutionize the concept of bluetooth earbuds, and they aren't trying to. Other than the new foam tips, the waterproofing and the slight reshape to better fit your ears, the outward design hasn't been overhauled — for example, there's no sign of the rumored touchscreen-style capacitive controls on the case, or any fancy on-board cameras.

While we're eagerly awaiting full reviews in the near future, we're betting the best thing you'll get with the Pro 3 is the improved noise cancellation combined with spatial audio. This also supplements the live translation experience — although the Pro 2 and AirPods 4 can also translate, ANC on the Pro 3 should make the conversation much easier to follow.

The heart rate monitor is also a big improvement that makes the AirPods Pro 3 a much more capable fitness aid. If you're into closing those rings, that alone might be a reason to make the switch right now rather than waiting until your Pro 2 earbuds wear out.

AirPods Pro 2 vs. AirPods Pro 3: Features compared