Apple unveils AirPods Pro 3 with noise cancellation, heart rate tracking, and translation tools
Apple has taken the wraps off AirPods Pro 3, its latest wireless earbuds, available for pre-order today with launch set for September 19. The company claims these are its best-sounding AirPods yet, featuring improved Active Noise Cancellation, new ear tip sizes, longer battery life, and even health tracking features like heart rate monitoring.
Apple is also promoting fitness integrations and a Live Translation tool, although how useful these additions will be in real-world use remains to be seen
The design of AirPods Pro 3 has been adjusted to fit more people, with Apple saying it used over 10,000 ear scans to shape the new model.
The company added a fifth ear tip size, including an XXS option, and promises greater stability for workouts.
“Combined with an improved fit that provides greater stability for even more people, heart rate sensing, extended battery life, and Live Translation enabled by Apple Intelligence, AirPods Pro 3 take personal audio to the next level,” said John Ternus, senior vice president of Hardware Engineering.
AirPods Pro 3
On the audio side, Apple is -- shock! -- describing the new earbuds as its best performers yet.
The company says the new acoustic design improves bass and clarity, while microphones and foam ear tips enhance noise cancellation.
Apple describes the ANC as “the world’s best,” removing up to twice as much noise as the second-generation AirPods Pro.
Another new element is fitness tracking. AirPods Pro 3 include a small optical sensor that can measure heart rate, with integration into Apple’s Fitness app.
The tech giant says the earbuds can track over 50 workout types. While this may appeal to some users, many already use Apple Watch for this very purpose.
Battery life has been extended, with up to eight hours of listening with noise cancellation enabled and 10 hours in transparency mode.
That is an improvement, but still below what some competing earbuds offer.
Live Translation, one of the headline features, is debuting in beta and supports only a limited number of languages at launch. Whether it works smoothly in spontaneous conversations remains to be seen.
It is also worth noting that Apple is not first in this space. Just four days ago, Timekettle introduced its W4 AI Interpreter Earbuds, which combine bone-conduction voice sensors with translation models to deliver near real-time multilingual communication.
AirPods Pro 3 start at $249 in the United States, the same price as earlier Pro models.
What do you think about Apple’s new AirPods Pro 3? Let us know in the comments.