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Tag: AirPods Pro 3

  • AirPods Pro 3 review: A significant update to Apple’s best earbuds

    If you’re not already wearing a pair of AirPods all day, Apple’s latest suite of features may convince you to do so. The company’s latest model, the AirPods Pro 3 ($249), is Apple’s most comprehensive update to its best set of earbuds. Flashy new features like Live Translation and heart-rate sensing will garner the bulk of the attention, but upgrades to active noise cancellation (ANC) and a significant boost in sound quality shouldn’t be overlooked. And with a notable improvement in battery life, the company now provides enough power for you to use these AirPods for an entire work day. Importantly, Apple managed to do all this without raising the price.

    The AirPods Pro 3 also carry many of the same features that made the AirPods Pro 2 such a compelling option for iPhone users. Those include the robust hearing health tools, hands-free access to Siri, gesture-based notification interactions, audio sharing with another set of AirPods, simplified setup and more.

    Since I’ve gone over all of these at length before, and because there’s a long list of updates on the AirPods Pro 3, I’ve chosen to focus primarily on the new tools in this review. But you shouldn’t overlook the exhaustive set of features that the AirPods Pro have amassed over the years, especially when you consider how Apple continues to find new ways to deploy its H2 chip.

    Editor’s note (on September 19 at 9:10AM ET): The AirPods Pro 3 are now officially available in retail outlets, and those who have pre-ordered their devices will be receiving them starting today. As you make your decisions on whether or which of these you should buy, make sure to check out our reviews of , , , as well as the . We also published a closer look at the feature, which has some impressions of what it’s like to use in real life. In addition, Billy Steele has published stories on what it was like to and an article with insight on how Apple used ANC to build its best AirPods features‘.

    Apple/Engadget

    The most significant update to the AirPods lineup delivers a host of ANC-powered improvements, including Live Translation. Plus, the arrival of heart-rate tracking makes the AirPods Pro 3 a more capable workout partner.

    Pros

    • Impressive ANC updates
    • Improved sound quality
    • Live Translation finally arrives
    • Extended battery life on a single charge
    Cons

    • New fit takes some getting used to
    • Total battery life is actually less than before
    • Live Translation languages are limited at launch

    $249 at Amazon

    Design changes on the AirPods Pro 3

    With a cursory glance, you likely won’t notice the design changes on the AirPods Pro 3. The company altered the shape of these smaller earbuds to align with the geometry of the ear canal for a more comfortable and secure fit. Of course, you’ll also notice the newly installed heart-rate sensor upon closer inspection, covering a previously blank surface of the AirPods Pro 2. Once you remove the new foam-infused ear tips from the latest model though, you’ll see the most obvious variation between the second- and third-generation versions.

    On the AirPods Pro 2, the grille protecting the driver sat flush with the surface of the main housing. Now, it’s extended out from the rest of the earbud, with a nozzle-like component similar to what much of the competition uses. Apple also revised the angle of the drivers, so sound beams more directly into your ears rather than bouncing as much off of the sides. As such, a side-by-side comparison of the AirPods Pro 3 and AirPods Pro 2 will show you that the ear tips are pointing in slightly different directions.

    There are also some visual differences on the AirPods Pro 3’s charging case. Like it did for the AirPods 4 last year, Apple has removed the Bluetooth pairing button entirely. You’ll now double tap on the front of the case near the LED to activate that function while the AirPods Pro are in their case. Additionally, just like AirPods 4, the LED is now hidden, so you don’t see the dot when it’s not illuminated. It’s a small thing, but as I noticed on last year’s models, it makes the surface of the case look cleaner.

    A quick word about fit

    These earbuds still very much look like previous AirPods Pro models.
    Billy Steele for Engadget

    Thanks to the AirPods Pro 3’s revised curves and foam-filled ear tips, Apple is calling this model the “best-fitting AirPods ever.” While I do think that’s true, I also believe that the new fit will take some getting used to — especially if you’ve worn the AirPods Pro 2 before.

    First, the new tips feel very different and seal off your ear canal in a more complete way than the Pro 2’s silicone-only tips. If you’ve used foam ear tips before, you know they provide better passive noise isolation than their silicone counterparts, and that remains true here. In fact, you may need to go down a size to find the most comfortable fit with the AirPods Pro 3. For example, I typically wear medium ear tips, but those felt too tight here. After swapping them out for the small ones, I began to understand why Apple won’t stop bragging about the updated fit.

    Upgraded ANC and its impact on other features

    Across the first two generations of the AirPods Pro, Apple had already made big strides in active noise cancellation. But with the AirPods Pro 3, the company ramped up its efforts several notches. Ultra-low-noise microphones combine with advanced computational audio to silence even more background noise. The new foam-infused ear tips play a major role here too, since they offer increased passive noise isolation. This trio of improvements allowed Apple to cover more of the noise spectrum, including higher frequencies like human voices.

    In the last week, there have been several times when I had the AirPods Pro 3 in and I couldn’t hear someone talking right next to me. In fact, Apple says the latest model cancels twice as much noise as the AirPods Pro 2 and four times more than the original AirPods Pro. Obviously, I don’t have a way to quantify that, but I can tell you the ANC performance on this new model was noticeably stronger than before.

    The improved seal the AirPods Pro 3’s ear tips offer helps make Apple’s ANC setup more precise. This allows the active noise cancellation system to be the foundation for several of the company’s other features like the Hearing Test, Live Translation and more. For the Hearing Test, you can now be in slightly louder environments without Siri asking you to relocate to a quieter place. And with Live Translation, ANC will lower the voice of the person you’re speaking to so you can focus on Siri playing the role of interpreter.

    Live Translation on the AirPods Pro 3

    Live Translation on AirPods Pro 3 will ask you to set languages before you begin.
    Billy Steele for Engadget

    At WWDC, Apple announced that Live Translation would be coming to Phone, FaceTime and Messages in iOS 26. There was no mention then that it would come to AirPods. Skip ahead to the iPhone 17 event and Live Translation was easily one of the most exciting new features announced for the AirPods Pro 3, because it will allow the wearer to translate in-person conversations with Apple’s earbuds.

    Google has been offering real-time translation on Pixel Buds for years, so Apple is very late to the game here. However, the AirPods Pro 3 uses its H2 chip in different ways, and now combines Voice Isolation, ANC and the beamforming mics to enable Live Translation. What’s more, you can activate it on the earbuds themselves (press and hold on both stems), ask Siri to start it or set the iPhone’s Action Button to carry out the task.

    When Live Translation begins, ANC kicks in to muffle environmental noise and to reduce the volume of the person you’re speaking to. Both are done so you can clearly hear Siri’s translation through your AirPods. Siri will warn you when ambient sound levels are too high, asking you to move to a quieter spot so that it can hear the speaker better.

    Live Translation worked well, at least for my Spanish-to-English and French-to-English tests. Plus, a real-time transcription is visible in the Translate app so you can show it to the person you’re chatting with — an element that’ll be useful for international travel. Just know that if you’re looking at your phone too, you’ll see the translation there before the audio comes through your AirPods. This isn’t surprising since the processing is being done by the connected iPhone, but seeing the English version right before I heard it was slightly confusing.

    You will need to enable Apple Intelligence on a compatible iPhone for Live Translation to work. The tool leverages Apple’s AI to translate the meanings of phrases so that sentences have the proper context. The feature will also be available on any AirPods that have the H2 chip inside, which includes the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 with ANC. You’ll have to download the different language models before you get started, too. Apple explains that the downloads would be required for offline use, but Siri prompted me to do so to use Live Translation even when I was was connected. Lastly, only five languages are supported at launch: English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish. Apple says Italian, Japanese, Korean and Chinese (simplified) are coming later this year.

    Heart-rate tracking finally arrives

    Heart rate stats from the Fitness app are visible in various places around iOS 26, including Live Activities on the Lock Screen.
    Billy Steele for Engadget

    After initially debuting heart-rate sensing capabilities on the Powerbeats Pro 2, Apple is now bringing it to the AirPods Pro 3. Like with the Powerbeats model, heart rate data from the AirPods can be accessed by Apple’s own Fitness app in addition to other workout apps like Nike Run Club, Runna, Ladder and Peloton. Basically, if an app works with the Powerbeats Pro 2, it should work with the AirPods Pro 3, and it should do so by the time those earbuds ship. As always, I expect even more integrations will be announced in the future, so don’t panic if your go-to app has worked with Apple gear in the past but doesn’t yet support the AirPods Pro 3.

    I exclusively tested the new heart-rate sensing tech on the AirPods Pro 3 with Apple’s Fitness app. I’m an Apple Watch owner and that’s where the bulk of my stats already reside. Speaking of the Watch, you don’t have to worry about conflicting streams of heart rate info if you’re using it as well as the AirPods Pro 3 during a workout. Apple explained that its devices will work together to provide multiple streams of data for better coverage of your activity. What’s more, if you don’t wear your Apple Watch during a session, the Fitness app will use data gathered from the AirPods Pro 3 to still log your stats for your Move, Exercise and Stand rings.

    During this review, I used the AirPods Pro 3 to monitor my heart rate primarily during outdoor walks. The earbuds actually support 50 different workouts in the Fitness app though, with HIIT, yoga and paddling among the available options. You can even track a session at the archery range.

    You’ll see live heart rate metrics on the workout screen alongside stats like time and distance, and your average heart rate will be displayed in the workout summary when you’re done. Heart rate info is also displayed with Live Activities on the lock screen and is a tap away on the icon in the Dynamic Island. So far, I haven’t encountered any issues leaving my Watch at home and relying solely on the AirPods Pro 3. The earbuds provided a constant stream of data to the Fitness app.

    The AirPods Pro 3’s sound quality

    The AirPods Pro 3 (left) vs. the AirPods Pro 2 (right).

    The AirPods Pro 3 (left) vs. the AirPods Pro 2 (right).

    (Billy Steele for Engadget)

    The improvement to sound quality on the AirPods Pro 3 isn’t exclusively due to its new drivers/transducers. Although those components were revised this generation, Apple’s biggest strides in the audio department are also thanks to increased air flow inside the earbuds. The company developed a new multiport acoustic architecture for better control of the air that delivers sounds into the ear. This allowed Apple to significantly improve bass response while providing a wider soundstage and increased vocal clarity.

    With all of that air to move around, Apple had to tweak its drivers for the task, but also make sure its tuning covered all the needed frequencies adequately. But those transducers remain the same size as the AirPods Pro 2. As I mentioned, Apple also reconfigured their angle so they now beam sound more directly into the ear canal. You might recall that an angular adjustment was also part of the company’s strategy for improving audio quality on the AirPods 4.

    The improvement you hear first will depend on the style of music you choose. Pick something with big, bombastic drums like Deftones’ “my mind is a mountain” and you’ll immediately notice the warmer, boomier bass. Opt for a track like Hayley Williams’ “True Believer” and your initial impression will likely be the enhanced vocal quality. And if you go for a song like Sleep Token’s “Dangerous” that’s more atmospheric, you’ll get a great sense of the expanded soundstage.

    Oftentimes audio companies make claims about sound quality improvements that don’t translate to what I actually hear. With the AirPods Pro 3, all of Apple’s proclamations not only hold true but are obvious, observable improvements.

    Call quality and voice performance

    Apple’s best-in-class transparency mode has been one of my favorite things about AirPods for years. No other company manages to handle ambient sound in a way that’s so clear it’s almost as if you aren’t wearing earbuds at all. With the AirPods Pro 3, Apple says it took things even further, making your voice and the voices of those around you sound “more natural and vibrant.” The company points specifically to Hearing Aid and Live Translation as areas where this fine-tuned transparency mode will help, but it will also be a boost to voice and video calls, too.

    Since Apple does such a good job of feeding your voice back through the AirPods Pro 3 and other transparency-enabled AirPods models, you never feel the need to talk louder to hear yourself on calls. It lets you relax and speak normally, and makes a day’s worth of Zoom calls much less exhausting.

    The AirPods Pro 3 support Apple’s newly introduced studio-quality voice recording as well. Arriving with iOS 26, the feature allows you to capture higher-quality vocal clips in apps like Camera, Voice Memos, Messages, FaceTime and any CallKit-enabled software. And when you’re recording video with an iPhone, you can now quickly select AirPods as the main audio source. The earbuds can act as a lavalier microphone with voice pickup that’s closer to your mouth.

    The AirPods Pro 3’s battery life

    The LED light on the front of the case only appears when it's illuminated.
    Billy Steele for Engadget

    Even with all of the new features, Apple still managed to extend the AirPods Pro’s battery life. With ANC enabled, you can now expect up to eight hours of use on a charge — two hours longer than the AirPods Pro 2. This means you could be able to wear the new model for a full day of work without having to charge them. Additionally, Apple says that if you’re using transparency mode with the Hearing Aid feature, AirPods Pro 3 will last up to 10 hours.

    So far, I have no reason to think Apple has overstated battery life on the AirPods Pro 3. I haven’t conducted a straight battery rundown test yet as I’ve been focused on trying all of the new features at various times over the last few days. I will update this review later this week with the results of my battery test though.

    If you find the promised eight hours still isn’t enough, a five-minute rest in the case will be enough to give you an hour of use. That’s long enough to get you through a quick workout or a call when you need to keep things hands-free. There is an important caveat with the case though. Despite the extended use time on the earbuds themselves, the total battery life including the case is reduced to 24 hours from the previous 30. There’s also a new ultra wideband chip (U2) in the charging case that Apple says has increased the distance for Precision Find My by one and a half times compared to the previous version.

    The competition

    Since the “regular” AirPods now offer ANC, Apple’s primary competition for the AirPods Pro 3 comes from within its own product lineup. The AirPods 4 with ANC offer an open-type fit even though they have impressive noise-blocking abilities, so they may be more comfortable for those who don’t like buds sticking into their ear canals. You’ll get Live Translation there too, but you won’t be able to access heart-rate tracking and Apple’s suite of hearing health tools. That might not matter to those who want to save some money though, as the AirPods 4 with ANC are $179 versus $249 for the AirPods Pro 3.

    All AirPods are really a conduit for Apple’s ecosystem, so if you don’t mind missing some iPhone integrations and special features, there are worthwhile alternatives. Sony’s WF-1000XM5 remains a jack of all trades, offering a set of features that perhaps only Apple can rival. The difference being that Sony’s tools will work with both iOS and Android, of course. The second-gen Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds are your best bet for pure noise-canceling abilities, and if you demand pristine sound, consider Noble Audio’s FoKus Rex5.

    Wrap-up

    The AirPods Pro 3 is the biggest update to Apple’s earbuds lineup in years. The sum of the company’s upgrades here are more significant than the choice to finally bring ANC to the “regular” AirPods last year. The combination of more precise ANC, improved sound quality, heart-rate tracking, Live Translation and longer battery life is a lot to explore. And that’s not even counting the redesign and new ear tips that offer a more secure fit, two items that directly address one of the main criticisms of previous AirPods models.

    If recent history is any indication, the company will continue to add new features to this third-generation version. I highly doubt that Apple is finished exploiting the power of the H2 chip, so it’s just getting started with what the AirPods Pro 3 can do.

    Billy Steele

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  • AirPods Pro 3 Review: Skating to Where the Puck Is Going, Not Where It Has Been

    Almost three years after Apple introduced the original AirPods Pro 2 (updated with USB-C in 2023) with category-defining sound quality and active noise cancellation (ANC), I can safely say that just about every company making ANC wireless earbuds has caught up or surpassed them, and often with buds that are sold for less than $250. Basic wireless earbuds features—good audio, good ANC, and good battery life—are table stakes, and each of these is improved on AirPods Pro 3. Apple’s third-gen ANC wireless earbuds are an excellent gen-over-gen upgrade and an even bigger leap if you’re coming from first-gen AirPods Pro.

    But what’s more interesting is seeing how Apple transforms the AirPods Pro 3 into a health and fitness-centric wearable and a vessel for AI features like Live Translation. To borrow a quote that’s often misattributed to Wayne Gretzky, AirPods Pro 3 “skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been.”

    AirPods Pro 3

    Apple’s third-gen ANC wireless earbuds improve all the basics and lay the foundation for going beyond audio with health and AI features.

    Pros

    • Even better fit
    • Terrific sound
    • Improved ANC
    • Longer single-charge battery life
    • Simultaneous heart rate tracking and music
    • On-device Live Translation works
    • IP57 rating

    Cons

    • Less total battery life with case
    • Heart rate tracking only works with Fitness app
    • Live Translation only supports five (six if you count UK English) languages at launch

    Design and comfort

    © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    I’ve never had complaints about the comfort and fit of AirPods Pro 2, so I was skeptical whether I’d feel any difference with AirPods Pro 3, which feature smaller buds with a more angled design, and foam-infused eartips. I’ve been using AirPods Pros almost daily since the originals came out in 2019, so I have a pretty good idea when the little white pieces of plastic that I stuff into my ears feel off—in a good way. AirPods Pro 3 sit deeper in my ears (your ears might be different), and the stems are just slightly farther away. I’ve been using the preinstalled medium-sized eartips on AirPods Pro 2 without issues, but just to see whether I’d get more noise passive noise cancellation from the new foam-infused eartips, I tried the small size tips, and lo and behold, they seemed to block out just a bit more environmental noise. So definitely try a size down if you’re feeling like ANC could be better. Apple also includes an XXS size eartip (for a total of five sizes) this time around. (There’s no USB-C cable in the box anymore, though, but who doesn’t have a dozen of them lying around?)

    Apple AirPods Pro 3 Review 1
    AirPods Pro 2 (left) vs. AirPods Pro 3 (right). © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    There are other subtle external changes, too. The inner vent is smaller; the outer vents are larger; and there’s one more covering the heart rate sensor next to the eartip. The buds are also rated IP57 sweat- and water-resistant, which means they can be immersed in up to 1 meter of water for up to 30 minutes and can survive heavier rain and dusty conditions. AirPods Pro 2 are only IPX4-rated, which is good for only splashes, and light rain and sweat.

    Apple AirPods Pro 3 Review 2
    AirPods Pro 2 case (left) vs. AirPods Pro 3 case (right).  © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    The charging case is largely the same, save for some small tweaks. Most people won’t notice this (I almost didn’t), but the case is a teensy bit larger in all directions. Apple told me that the redesigned geometry of the buds required a slightly bigger case to ensure they’d slip in with the same satisfying clicks and snaps. Loose-fitting cases for older AirPods Pro should still be compatible with the AirPods Pro 3, but the ones that are snug might not, and you may need a new case. I don’t do cases for my AirPods, so I’m fine sticking a cute keychain on the cases’ built-in lanyard loop. The case also no longer has a physical button on the backside. Matching the AirPods 4 (with and without ANC) case, the AirPods Pro 3 case has a touch-sensitive button just below the battery indicator LED. Double-tapping it puts the wireless earbuds into pairing mode, and double-tapping it three times factory resets it.

    Sound quality and active noise cancellation

    Like any tech company, Apple takes every opportunity to boast about how it reengineered its products to offer even better this or that. For AirPods Pro 3, Apple says the wireless earbuds use a “new multiport acoustic architecture” for better sound across all frequencies—highs, mids, and lows. I’ll leave the scientific tests to the audiophiles at SoundGuys and RTings, but to a regular Joe like myself, they sound virtually the same compared to AirPods Pro 2. That’s not a knock—AirPods Pro 2 sound great—but we’ve reached a ceiling for sound quality in wireless earbuds. If there’s any discernible difference, it’s that the lows are just a bit cleaner, especially if you’re using the AirPods Pro 3 in motion like running. Many of the bass-heavy tracks in the Power Hour playlist on Spotify sounded deeper with less distortion, and vocals sounded just a smidge clearer. I thought some of my favorite new songs from Linkin Park’s latest album, “From Zero,” including “Stained” and “IGYEIH,” would sound miles better, but alas, they sound about the same. There wasn’t much that Apple needed to improve in terms of sound quality, so I’m not surprised at all that any audible differences are minor. I’m fine with not messing with the already great sound. It’s better than Apple forcing some kinda AI enhancement to remaster songs for the modern age and potentially ruining them.

    Apple AirPods Pro 3 Review 9
    © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    Transparency mode is also more natural-sounding. Compared to other similar modes on other wireless earbuds that I’ve tried, like the Pixel Buds 2 Pro, Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, and Nothing Ear, I’ve always found Transparency mode on AirPods Pro 2 to sound the cleanest. Background noise is blended with music in such a way that it doesn’t sound like a synthetic mode with tinniness or reverb that I’ve noticed on other wireless earbuds. On AirPods Pro 3, I could hear voices and ambient sounds mix more seamlessly with my music. It’s subtle, but very nice!

    ANC is a different story. Apple says it improved active noise cancellation by two times compared to AirPods Pro 2, and by four times compared to the first-gen AirPods Pro and AirPods 4 with ANC, which have the same level of noise cancellation. I don’t have the tools to measure and verify that ANC claim, so again, I’ll let the audio experts tackle that, but I can tell you the ANC (with the best-fitting eartip for my ears) is noticeably stronger in blocking out background noise. As I type this, I can’t hear the whir of the Dyson Airblade fan from 10 feet across the room or even the battery-powered pocket fan on my desk. I didn’t hear my cat, Kiwi, meowing like a maniac earlier when it was her dinner time. Outside, on the subway, the screeches and rumblings of the train were more drowned out compared to my AirPods Pro 2; I felt less irritated not having to hear a guy singing bad karaoke for two stops. All of this is to say, the ANC on AirPods Pro 3 is indeed better than on any other AirPods. Is it the best there is in any wireless earbuds? Better than the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds (2nd Gen) that my colleague James Pero says have “amazing ANC” and are best in class? Probably not—AirPods Pro 3 don’t completely eliminate external sound—but they’re gonna be more than enough for most people. Crank the volume up past 50% when you’re listening to music and you’re gonna hear less environmental noise.

    Heart rate tracking

    Apple AirPods Pro 3 Review 5
    AirPods Pro 3 have a built-in heart rate sensor. © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    The biggest new addition in AirPods Pro 3 is the heart rate sensor. If you don’t have an Apple Watch, you can use it to track your heart rate and calories while using the Fitness app. The Beats Powerbeats Pro 2, released in February, were Apple’s first pair of wireless earbuds with a built-in heart rate sensor, but they fell short of being useful because you couldn’t simultaneously track your heart rate and listen to music. Many reviewers also found the heart rate readings to be inaccurate compared to an Apple Watch, chest strap, or even smart rings like Oura.

    Apple confirmed to Gizmodo that the heart rate sensor inside AirPods Pro 3 is completely different technology compared to the Powerbeats Pro 2 and wasn’t based on it. Weird, how Beats is owned by Apple, but developed its own inferior tech. You’d think there would be more synergy between the two companies internally.

    Either way, I’m happy to report that you can listen to music and get a real-time heart rate reading while using the AirPods Pro 3. I didn’t have a chest strap monitor to compare the AirPods Pro 3 with, but there’s a low deviation between the heart rate sensor in the wireless earbuds compared to an Apple Watch Series 9 and Series 10. Before, during, and after three outdoor walks and two 2-mile runs, I did back-to-back checks on the heart rate readings between the three wearables and found there was generally a beats per minute (bpm) difference between 1 and 5. Sometimes the AirPods Pro 3 and Apple Watches recorded the exact same heart rate. This heart rate variability is considered normal; anything higher than 5 bpm would have been reason to worry about the accuracy of the sensor in the AirPods Pro 3. Of course, there’s always going to be some difference when you’re measuring heart rate in your ear versus on your wrist or chest. There’s also the matter of making sure the heart rate sensor on the AirPods Pro 3 is properly covered by your ear’s front flap, or tragus. A poor fit could result in inaccurate heart rate readings, so keep that in mind.

    Heart rate reading on Apple Watch Series 9 vs. AirPods Pro 3
    Heart rate reading on Apple Watch Series 9 vs. AirPods Pro 3 © Raymond Wong / Gizmodo

    You’re probably thinking: if you have an iPhone, then you probably have an Apple Watch, so why would you need a heart rate sensor in AirPods Pro 3 as a duplicative feature? First, not everyone who has an iPhone owns an Apple Watch. Not everyone wants a smartwatch, though the new $250 Apple Watch SE 3 is gonna be a value that’s too good for fence-sitters to refuse. Second, the heart rate sensor in the AirPods Pro 3 is just a single stream of heart rate data. Apple says that combined with an Apple Watch, you’ll get multiple readings and the Health and Fitness apps will log whichever is the more accurate one. It’s not an average of multiple connected heart rate sensors, Apple says. I pressed the company on what exactly “more accurate” means, but it seems the company is keeping that info secret, only stating that the activity and calorie tracking reading is determined based on an AI model that was trained from over 50 million hours of data from its Apple Heart and Movement Study.

    Live Translation

    Companies have been trying to figure out how to shove real-time translations into wireless earbuds for years. Google first attempted live translations with its original Pixel Buds in 2017. To review them, I brought in two professional interpreters who had translated for UN conferences to help me test the accuracy and speed of Google Translate running on the Pixel Buds paired to a Pixel 2 XL. The results were not unexpected: the Pixel Buds were no replacements for live translations from humans. The live translation feature was convenient and helpful in a pinch, but clearly too literal in translations, and oftentimes incorrectly translated certain words or phrases. The professional interpreters were able to translate five times faster than waiting for Google to beam the translations from the cloud. Eight years later, Apple may have cracked it.

    AirPods Pro 3 Live Translation
    © Screenshots by Raymond Wong / Gizmodo

    Live Translation on AirPods Pro 3 is the same feature, but it actually (mostly) works—and in near real-time—from what I could gather. The number of supported languages at launch is short—English (UK), English (U.S.), French, German, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish (Spain)—but Apple says it plans to add Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Mandarin Chinese (Simplified) by the end of the year. As somebody who’s been learning Mandarin Chinese and starting on Japanese, I was bummed I couldn’t try out either. I’ll have to revisit Live Translation when those languages are added.

    I tested Live Translation in Spanish and French, though in most cases the Spanish was of the Mexican variety. Turning on Live Translation is easy, and there are several ways to do so. You can squeeze the stems of both buds, and your iPhone will launch the Translate app. You don’t need to have the app open, but you’ll get live transcriptions for both the language that’s being translated and that you’re translating into. You can use a Siri Shortcut and map it to the Action button on a supported iPhone. Or you can simply say, “Siri, start Live Translation.” I found this to be the worst of the three ways, with the voice assistant constantly translating “live translation” into a language after the command. Siri also repeatedly got confused about where the start and end of a sentence I asked to be translated was. Clearly, Siri is still not as intelligent as it could and should be by. Google’s Gemini seems to misunderstand me a lot less on the Pixel 10 and Galaxy Z Fold 7.

    I first tested translating Spanish with my friend Christian, who speaks it as her first language. We had a brief conversation about what types of food and activities there are to do in my neighborhood. She said the translations were about 95% accurate. There were some instances where the AirPods Pro 3 microphones failed to pick up on a few words that both of us said. For example, I tacked on “Thanks, honey” at the end of the convo and the buds just didn’t hear that part. I don’t know if I spoke too quickly or too softly or what. It’s not a dealbreaker unless you’re mentioning something really important.

    In classic Apple style, Live Translation has its nice attention to detail. When activated, ANC turns on and the beamforming mics in AirPods Pro 3 kick in to isolate the voice of the speaker directly in front of you so you can focus on what they’re saying. If the other person is wearing AirPods Pro 3 (or Pro 2 or AirPods 4 with ANC), they’ll get the same experience.

    Apple AirPods Pro 3 Review 4
    Squeezing both stems turns on Live Translation. © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    Then, I tried Live Translation with a fruit stand seller speaking Mexican Spanish, while Christian monitored the live transcriptions on my iPhone. I asked, “Can I get some fresh orange juice?” and the AirPods Pro 3 read back (and transcribed in the app), “¿Puedo conseguir un zuma de naranja fresco?” Christian told me that while that was correct because Live Translation was translating English to Spanish (Spain), she would have gone with “jugo” for juice instead of “zuma”, which is more common in conversational Spanish. Maybe one day, Apple Translate and Live Translation on AirPods Pro will be able to automatically detect accents and regional vocabulary, and personalize translations to them. For now, Live Translation seems to work mostly as advertised.

    The best part of Live Translation is that it all works on-device—no internet connection is required. I tested it with the Wi-Fi turned off and translations worked just as quickly. Of course, you will need to download the languages to your iPhone, so you will eat up some storage, but also your conversations (audio and transcriptions) are never saved on the device or anywhere in iCloud or the cloud, and Apple promises that it doesn’t use any Live Translation data for training its AI models. That’s a relief, because I don’t need Apple or any AI knowing the very stupid conversations I like having with my international friends.

    Apple AirPods Pro 3 Review 3
    © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    Another fun way I found to use Live Translation was while watching YouTube videos. I loaded up a video from a Spanish-speaker and turned the volume loud enough for the AirPods Pro 3 to pick up the audio and translate it back in real-time. All of a sudden, videos in Spanish became more accessible without having to glance down at the bottom of the screen and potentially missing what was happening. I compared the voice translations coming through the buds and the Translate app to the on-screen subtitles and auto-dubbed version from YouTube, and they seemed to track closely. AI voice translations are rapidly breaking down language barriers for video content and I’m all for enabling more people to view and connect with videos regardless of their native tongue. What I’m not sure about just yet is using AI to deepfake or reproduce a person’s voice (and sometimes even sync it to lip movements). Google’s Pixel 10 phones have a feature called Voice Translate that does real-time voice translations (also on-device) during phone calls, but it clones your voice with near pitch-perfect tones and inflections. It’s cool, creepy, and a month after reviewing the devices, I’m still not sure whether it’s necessary. Google frames Voice Translate as “hear the voices you love, not a robot,” but this is gonna be something consumers will decide whether it goes too far. Fortunately, you don’t need to worry about deepfaked voices with AirPods Pro 3 and Live Translation—you get two female voices and a male one to choose from.

    Battery life

    Apple AirPods Pro 3 Review 8
    © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    There are two ways to look at battery life for wireless earbuds: you can get longer battery life from a single charge for the buds and fewer hours total with the charging case, or less continuous listening time with the buds and more total hours with the charging case. On AirPods Pro 2, the buds could last up to 6 hours with ANC and get up to 30 hours total with the case—that’s five additional charges. On AirPods Pro 3, Apple bumped up the buds an extra 2 hours to 8 hours on a single charge, but reduced the total amount of battery with the case to 24 hours—so you only get two extra charges.

    That’s an upgrade if you prefer more continuous listening time, like for a long-haul flight. But it’s a downgrade if you want more battery life on the go. This split between continuous listening battery life and total battery life with the case is equal to Sony’s WF-1000XM5 wireless earbuds. Bose’s QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) get up to 6 hours with ANC and only 24 hours total with the case.

    This change may mean trips to the outlet sooner than before. I really wish Apple had sped up the fast charging. A 5-minute charge still provides only 1 hour of listening time, just like on AirPods Pro 2.

    Still great for audio, but the future is health and AI

    Apple AirPods Pro 3 Review 11
    © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    There are some other features that are nice, like the ability to press the stem of a bud to click the shutter when you’ve got the Camera app open; good if you’re a vlogger or want to snap a photo with your iPhone propped up from afar. AirPods Pro 3 also have a newer Ultrawide band chip inside the charging case that lets you find them using Precision Find My from 1.5x farther away, according to Apple. I’ve maybe used Precision Find My only a handful of times with my AirPods Pro 2, so it’s not a big addition for me, but if you’re always misplacing your wireless earbuds, it could come in handy.

    Apple is also doing more for hearing health and assistance, with the hearing test that you can take during setup for the AirPods Pro 3 now being scientifically validated.

    Combined with the upgraded basics for sound, ANC, battery life, and durability, AirPods Pro 3 are an even better wireless earbuds package than the AirPods Pro 2. The price is still the same $250 MSRP, but if the deep sales on AirPods Pro 2 in the past years are any indication, AirPods Pro 3 may drop drop $200 or $150 this holiday season. Yes, there are probably better-value ANC wireless earbuds out there, but they’re not buds that are designed to pair and switch seamlessly between Apple devices. Nor will other wireless earbuds have the same tight integration with Apple services, like the heart rate tracking and Live Translation that are only possible with iPhone and the Fitness app. If you’ve got an Android phone, you’ll get all the better core wireless earbuds features, but you won’t get the health and AI stuff, and that’s where the puck is going. With AirPods Pro 3, you’re getting a front-row seat to where things are headed. I would bet money that once Apple gets its Apple Intelligence-powered Siri back on track, that’s when we’ll really see AI in AirPods open new doors.

    Raymond Wong

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  • AirPods Pro 3 Hands-On: All the Upgrades Seem to Check Out (So Far)

    Whereas the Apple Watch SE 3, Series 11, and Watch Ultra 3 are pretty much internal spec bumps compared to the previous generations of those respective smartwatches, the AirPods Pro 3 wireless earbuds are actually reengineered inside and out, but you’ll have to look closely to spot the changes. The charging case also ditches its physical pairing button.

    After Tuesday’s “Awe Dropping” Apple Event, where Tim Cook and company announced the remarkably thin iPhone Air, feature-stuffed iPhone 17 Pros, and the aforementioned trio of Apple Watches, I had some personal time to experience the AirPods Pro 3. These are the replacements for the AirPods Pro 2 introduced in 2022 (and then upgraded with USB-C in 2023). So we’re talking about a new version for Apple’s three-year-old wireless earbuds with active noise cancellation (ANC).

    You can read all the techie detail about how Apple reengineered the drivers and acoustics and all that stuff here or on Apple’s product page. We also wrote up a helpful comparison on how the AirPods Pro 3 compare to the AirPods Pro 2. What neither can tell you is what it’s like to wear the AirPods Pro 3 in your ears and try out the new Live Translation feature and the built-in heart rate sensor. That’s my job, so let’s get to it.

    © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    As with my other hands-on, these are merely first impressions. I had about 45 minutes to try the AirPods Pro 3 out. At first glance, the AirPods Pro 3 in their charging case don’t look new at all. There were rumors that the case would get smaller, but the case is about the same size as the one for AirPods Pro 2. Flipping the case over to the back, you’ll notice there’s no more pairing button. Apple removed it and replaced it with an invisible touch-sensitive one on the front. Press and hold it for two seconds to put the AirPods Pro 3 into pairing mode, and then press and hold longer to do a factory reset. The charging light LED is still present.

    Apple Event iPhone Apple Watch AirPods 05
    © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    The AirPods Pro 3 earbuds themselves are subtly different and designed for better comfort. First, there’s now an extra size for eartips in the box—XXS—for a total of five. Second, the bowl of the buds is more compact. And third, the eartips fit tighter to the buds. Together, these changes all help situate each bud deeper and more snug inside of your ears. One side effect is that the stems seem to stick out more. I immediately noticed this for some reason. I don’t know; I’m very sensitive to how things stuck inside my ears look. Needless to say, the AirPods Pro 3 fit very comfortably in my ears, and although I’ve never had problems with the AirPods Pro 2 buds falling out, I did shake my head, and the AirPods Pro 3 buds felt quite secure.

    Sound-wise, Apple says it’s improved the quality, especially with active noise cancellation performance. I listened to a few songs on Apple Music, including some recent favorites on repeat, like “Dive” by Olivia Dean and “Euphoria” by Keshi, and they sounded very clear with clean and deep bass, and crisp vocals. Apple had four HomePods simulating various environmental noises, like the hum of an airplane and a noisy street. I immediately noticed the stronger ANC in reducing the background noise. Apple says that it’s increased ANC by 2x on AirPods Pro 3 compared to AirPods Pro 2, and by 4x compared to AirPods Pro and AirPods 4 with ANC. That’s impressive, and I look forward to testing how the ANC holds up in the real world. Simulations, after all, aren’t always representative of real life.

    Live Translation Demo

    Apple Event iPhone Apple Watch AirPods 02
    © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    Now let’s talk about the live translation and heart rate sensor because, as our senior reporter James Pero said, AirPods Pro 3 is clearly Apple dipping its toes into transforming the wireless earbuds into much more than a gadget for listening to music.

    In a demo, Apple had a person on hand to speak Portuguese while the AirPods Pro 3 in my ears translated what he was saying into English. Live Translation is activated by using a Siri shortcut (Apple mapped it to an Action button on an iPhone 17 Pro demo unit) or by pressing and holding the stems of both AirPods Pro 3 buds. ANC kicks into gear to isolate the speaker’s voice, and then the translation begins. You can also pull open your paired iPhone to see the transcribed translations within the Translate app. Now, I don’t speak Portuguese, and neither did any of the other media in my hands-on group, so I can’t say with what accuracy the translations were. But I do have experience using the Translate app on iPhone for Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, and French translations. It’s good, but not as accurate as Google Translate, especially for tonal languages like Mandarin. I will say that the live translations were nearly instant; the buds do use beamforming tech to home in on the voice of a person who’s directly in front of you, and some languages may require a few more seconds to get the correct context for a translation, but it seemed to work.

    The fine print for AirPods Pro 3 (if you’re getting them for Sept. 19) is that the Live Translation feature is launching in beta and is limited to five languages (English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish) at first. Apple says Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Mandarin Chinese (simplified) will be available by the end of the year.

    On the bright side, Live Translation is not exclusive to the AirPods Pro 3. The feature is also coming to AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 with ANC—the requirements being wireless earbuds with an H2 chip and ANC.

    Heart Rate Tracking Demo

    Apple Event iPhone Apple Watch AirPods 01
    © Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

    Now, let’s talk about the heart rate sensor. This is not the same tech that Beats uses in its Powerbeats Pro 2 fitness buds, but Apple’s own sensor is based on tech from over a decade’s worth of learnings from the Apple Watch’s heart rate sensor. Ripped from Apple’s own press release, AirPods Pro 3 uses a “custom photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor that shines invisible infrared light pulsed at 256 times per second to measure light absorption in blood flow.”

    I got a brief look at how the heart rate sensor integrates with the Fitness app for workouts. Worth noting, my heart rate in the video below is quite high from having little sleep, getting up at 5 a.m., and hopping in an Uber, and then Caltrain, and then Uber again to get to Apple Park. Oh, and then running around Apple Park for several hours, being extremely caffeinated from too many espresso shots, and Cupertino being extremely warm. That being said, I can’t say how accurate the heart rate sensor in the AirPods Pro 3 is compared to an Apple Watch. I’ll have to compare that when I get a pair of the ANC buds in for review.

    At $249, the AirPods Pro 3 seem to be a worthwhile upgrade over the AirPods Pro 2 if everything like the 2x ANC checks out. And if they’re anything like the AirPods Pro 2, Apple will likely support them with new features for several years. I’ll have more to share when I review them soon, but I’m not seeing any steps backward for now.

    Raymond Wong

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  • A closer look at the AirPods Pro 3: ANC, Live Translation and heart-rate tracking

    The AirPods Pro 3 are a big upgrade over the AirPods Pro 2. Even though Apple has continuously added new features to those earbuds over the last three years, it hasn’t changed the design or shape of the earbuds since the first model arrived in 2019. With the AirPods Pro 3, you might not notice those tweaks until you remove the new ear tips, and the most impactful upgrades are all on the inside. After my brief hands-on immediately following the iPhone 17 launch yesterday, I’ve since spent more time test driving all of the new features on the AirPods Pro 3 — from the improved active noise cancellation (ANC) to Live Translation and heart-rate monitoring.

    Stronger ANC through tech and ear tips

    Apple says the ANC on the AirPods Pro 3 blocks twice as much noise as the AirPods Pro 2 and four times as much as the original AirPods Pro. A big part of this is due to the ultra-low noise microphones and computational audio on the earbuds, but the new foam-infused ear tips are also playing a vital role.

    The latest ear tips are still silicone on the outside like the Pro 2’s, but they’re now injected with foam. This provides much better passive noise isolation to block out distractions, helping with high-frequency sounds like human voices. In fact, there were several times this week where an Apple representative had to tap me on the shoulder because with the AirPods Pro 3 on, I couldn’t hear them speaking right next to me. No matter how they did it, the fact that Apple does a better job of silencing chatty co-workers on the AirPods Pro 3 is a welcome change. It’s impressive when you consider much of the competition struggles to reduce the volume of human voices on their earbuds and headphones.

    The AirPods Pro 3 are no slouch in general noise cancellation performance either. During simulated air plane noise and recorded sounds of a bustling cafe, the earbuds did well to reduce the unwanted distraction of both. What’s more, the AirPods Pro 3 silenced the busy demo area outside of the keynote, providing a welcome respite for a few seconds during an otherwise stressful day.

    Live Translation finally arrives

    Sam Rutherford for Engadget

    After Apple chatted up Live Translation in iOS 26 at WWDC, I was disappointed that those initial plans didn’t include AirPods. I should’ve known the announcement for the earbuds would come with the next iteration of the AirPods Pro. Like Google’s Pixel Buds, Apple’s take on the feature relies on a connected iPhone to do all of the heavy lifting, powered by the Translate app. However, you don’t need a prolonged interaction with a phone to turn on Live Translation. You can press and hold on both AirPods, ask Siri or set the shortcut for the Action Button to the task. As a reminder, Live Translation will be available on AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 with ANC, because they all carry the H2 chip.

    During a quick demo, Live Translation worked well, quickly converting the Spanish an Apple representative was speaking into English, which Siri then conveyed in the AirPods Pro 3. There’s a slight delay, which is expected, since the captured audio is processed on an iPhone and then translated in the second language. That might make for some awkward pauses, but I’ll have to wait for more real-world testing to know for sure. I did notice that text translations appeared in the app before they came through the earbuds, but again, that’s not really a surprise since the iPhone is the brains of the operation. Plus, you’ll want to use the phone as a horizontal display here, since the app provides a real-time transcription for the person you’re talking to.

    One aspect of Live Translation that may go unnoticed until you actually use it on the AirPods is the role ANC plays in the process. After you activate the translation feature, active noise cancellation kicks in to reduce the speaker’s voice so that you can clearly hear the translation from Siri in the earbuds. This happens automatically, and during my demo I never felt like I needed to manually adjust the volume so I could better hear the translated English over the speaker’s Spanish.

    Heart-rate tracking, but only for workouts

    AirPods Pro 3 heart-rate tracking
    Billy Steele for Engadget

    Another big addition to the AirPods Pro 3 is heart-rate monitoring. Apple first debuted this capability on the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 and is using a photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor to measure light absorption in blood flow. Heart rate stats are visible only in the Fitness app during workouts though, so if you’re looking to keep tabs in other apps or Widgets, you’re out of luck. But when it comes to activity tracking, the chorus of accelerometers, gyroscope, GPS and a new on-device AI model combine with the PPG sensor to monitor stats for 50 different workouts.

    This is another feature I’ll need to test at home before I can properly gauge its merits, especially since my testing here in Cupertino consisted only of a three-minute walk. Sure enough, my live heart rate was displayed on the workout screen alongside distance covered, average pace, calories burned and elapsed time. Once I completed that strenuous session, I could see my average heart rate in the Workout Details summary, just above a graph of the info.

    Improved audio through more air flow

    Apple loves to discuss air flow when it comes to audio performance in AirPods and the company redesigned the venting system in the AirPods Pro 3 to improve sound quality. The company also turned the ear tip so it’s beaming audio more directly into the ear. Along with Adaptive EQ, this combination provides noticeably deeper bass and a wider soundstage for more immersive spatial listening.

    To move all of that air around, Apple’s acoustics team devised a new set of fine-tuned chambers to maximize the overall flow. And as a result, the vent system had to be larger, so now the one on top of the earbuds is nearly twice as large as the one on AirPods Pro 2. Then, to properly harness all of that available air space, Apple had to slightly redesign the driver/transducer to achieve the necessary frequencies. Adaptive EQ has also been expanded since the inward facing microphones on the AirPods Pro 3 have been moved so they’re not obstructed by the sides of the ear canal as much.

    AirPods Pro 3
    Sam Rutherford for Engadget

    Maggie Rogers’ “Alaska” was the test track of choice during my demo, a song I’m familiar with since I’ve listened to the album Heard It in a Past Life a ton. Beyond the enhancements to bass and the spatial effect, the thing that struck me about the audio upgrades was the level of detail the AirPods Pro 3 now provide. The separation of the bass drum and hand pan enhance the immersion, but there’s also the texture in the sound of both that is typically lost on most earbuds and headphones. I listened to the AirPods Pro 2 on the flight out here to refresh my memory and it was immediately apparent that Apple has made some big upgrades to sound quality on this new model.

    The AirPods Pro 3 are available for preorder now for $249 from Apple, Amazon and other retailers. It arrives September 19 alongside the iPhone 17 family and new Apple Watches.

    Image for the mini product module

    Billy Steele

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