AirPods Pro 3: everything we know so far, plus all the latest rumors and leaks

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You're impatient for AirPods Pro 3, and we get it – although we should tell you right now that a September 6 report from Mark Gurman suggests that although the AirPods 4 and AirPods Lite may arrive soon, we could be waiting until next year for the Pro 3 and Max 2.

Have a read through our Apple AirPods Pro 2 review and you'll see they're some of the best noise-cancelling earbuds you can buy right now – but the big question is, will the next version arrive at the confirmed Apple event on September 9th 2024, alongside the all-but-certain to appear AirPods 4?

The rumor-mill's gone suspiciously quiet in the run up to the big 'Glowtime' event, but if anything, that's good news. If anyone can keep a secret, Apple can.

While there's undoubtedly a lot to like in our best AirPods roundup, a shiny new set of AirPods Pro 3 would almost certainly make their debut as the best of the bunch. The latest rumors claim we'll get a major improvement to the active noise cancellation, and there are whispers of improved sound quality and new hearing-related health features.

We've corralled all the Apple AirPods Pro 3 rumors and leaks so far, including possible pricing and release dates. So if you're weighing up one of the best AirPods Pro deals right now, you might want to hang on, although the current model has fallen to some fantastic prices recently, and there are 5 free upgrades to AirPods Pro 2 coming in iOS 18.

We've also gone into detail when it comes to some of the upgrades we think Apple should be considering this time around, just in case anyone from the AirPods engineering department is reading...

Apple AirPods Pro 3: possible release date and pricing

We strongly suspect now that AirPods Pro 3 will be announced not on September 9, 2024, at the next big Apple Event (at which we also expect the iPhone 16 and Apple Watch 10 to be unveiled) but that they'll be unveiled early next year. Why? Because a recent missive from Mark Gurman told us to expect mid-tier and entry level AirPods on September 9, but not the next-gen Pro or Max updates.

Looking back (over your shoulder!) for a second, the AirPods Pro 2 arrived on September 23, 2022, and then were updated in September 2023 to a version with USB-C connectivity, but other than that, they were otherwise basically the same.

So should we expect another yearly upgrade this September, 2024? Alas, it seems unlikely if you look further back at Apple's Pro history.

The inaugural AirPods Pro arrived on October 30, 2019, so there was a three year gap between first-gen and second-gen iterations. The 2023 version was an anomaly, adding USB-C basically to pair with the newly USB-C-fied iPhone 15.

With that in mind, 2025 might be a better bet for the AirPods Pro 3, being three years on from the original launch of AirPods Pro 2. That's a date which has been backed up by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, though 2024 is still on the table – in August 2024, a somewhat reliable leaker said that AirPods Pro 3 would come 'soon'.

As for pricing, both the AirPods Pro and the AirPods Pro 2 were priced at $249 / ￡249 / AU$399 when they first appeared, so the AirPods Pro 3 cost should be similar – though some inflation is probably inevitable. Lots of the best wireless earbuds have risen in price in the last few years, but Apple made a point of hanging on at the same price as the original AirPods Pro from 2019. If it does the same again, the new buds will actually come at the lower end of the premium earbuds range.

Apple AirPods Pro 3: Rumors and leaks

We haven't seen too much in the way of leaks and rumors for the AirPods Pro 3 just yet, which could be a sign that a launch isn't imminent (although Apple has surprised us before), so we might have to be patient about a new version of this particular product.

That said, analyst and leaker Mark Gurman has made some claims about them in his Bloomberg newsletter. Gurman claims that the AirPods Pro 3 will have a new design (as will their case) along with better audio quality.

They will also apparently have a new chipset, and some new health features, with "the ability to get hearing data of some sort" being added.

Meanwhile, leaker Kosutami claimed that the new model will offer "much better" active noise cancellation than AirPods Pro 2, and will arrive "soon" – though obviously those are two pretty vague claims.

Beyond that, you'll know that the AirPods Pro 2 have been updated with a USB-C case, as previously predicted. This is of course because of the European Union setting an autumn 2024 deadline for the adoption of USB-C charging technology.

While Apple has expressed it isn't happy, claiming such a move can stifle innovation, it seems highly likely the company will comply with the AirPods Pro 3, as it has with the AirPods Pro 2 and the latest iPhone.

As you can see from the tweet above, evidence for some new AirPods and a new AirPods case in iOS 16.4 were predicted to be the updated USB-C versions by highly respected analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

That leaves us still waiting for the Apple AirPods Pro 3 to appear. It's perhaps telling that a leaked Apple hardware roadmap suggested that third-gen Apple AirPods Pro earbuds were still in "early development". There's a pretty fair chance we'll see the AirPods 4 before the AirPods Pro 3.

With that in mind, we might expect some more leaks and rumors to start emerging if we're about to see them in the last quarter of 2024. We'll be reporting on all of them here, so be sure to check back regularly.

AirPods Pro 3: features and what we want to see

In case you didn't know, Apple had originally planned to sell its AirPods in a variety of color options beyond the shiny arctic white that’s been standard for the company’s wireless earbuds since the first AirPods version shipped back in 2016 (thank you @KostuamiSan on Twitter, via AppleInsider). The story goes that ProductRED, Purple, Black, and Blonde AirPods were planned, to correspond with options for the iPhone 7, but all were ultimately cancelled.

We have seen various finishes available for the AirPods Max, (Space Gray, Silver, Sky Blue, Green, and Pink) so surely different AirPods Pro finishes isn't too big an ask?

But let's get serious. In case you missed it, Apple's WWDC 2024 shindig happened from June 5 to June 9. And while it was a scorcher for software (we had sweeping iOS updates, changes to macOS, plus a look at Apple's artificial intelligence machinations in the form of Apple Intelligence and a new smarter Siri) we didn't get any new AirPods.

Where Apple's unannounced AirPods Pro 3 are concerned, we need to go back. little bit, to discuss the fact that in 2023, the Cupertino giant added Adaptive Audio to AirPods – a headline upgrade within six new features coming to AirPods Pro 2 thanks to iOS 17.

Not all AirPods got the update, only the current models toting active noise cancellation, aka the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Max. Essentially, where once there were only three modes available – ANC, transparency mode, and off – you got a fourth: Adaptive Audio. Apple's take is that this offers the middle ground that we've all been looking for.

I disagree. The new feature blends transparency mode with ANC to match the conditions of your natural surroundings. Using machine learning, Adaptive Audio then creates a more customized and dynamic listening experience so that you don’t have to play around with audio settings on your iPhone while you’re on the move.

I'd argue that users may want to play with the levels of noise nixing. What if listeners want Adaptive Audio that's tweakable further than simply on/off? As TechRadar's Managing Editor of Entertainment wrote at the time: "Give me different levels of noise cancellation – or even better, let me create my own, using a slider or two to set my preferred level, and then saving them as presets I can easily access from Control Center (or maybe they can be triggered by location)."

To summarize, Apple could adopt a few of these ideas for the AirPods Pro 3 and come off looking very good indeed.

Elsewhere, the flagship Technics EAH-AZ80 earbuds offer multipoint connectivity to three devices whether Android or iOS, and in this 'Pro' space it would be great if Apple could follow suit with device-agnostic multipoint pairing. Current AirPods cannot connect to two different devices simultaneously – unless they're both Apple products. Provided someone links their AirPods to their Apple ID, AirPods will instantly switch to whatever device the wearer is using.

For stamina, AirPods Pro 2 are more than acceptable at up to 6 hours of listening time with a single charge (up to 5.5 hours with Spatial Audio and Head Tracking enabled) or up to 30 hours of listening time. This is a little longer than Sony and Technics' flagship 2023 buds can manage; it's seven hours and up to 25 with the charging case from the Technics EAH-AZ80; eight hours or 24 in total with the case from Sony's WF-1000XM5.

But the main bone of contention where any new AirPods are concerned is support for Apple Music's own high-resolution audio offering, specifically 24-bit/96 kHz, aka the maximum resolution of Apple Music's Lossless tier, and 24-bit/192kHz – where Apple Music's Hi-Res Lossless offering maxes out.

Currently, to have Hi-Res Lossless files (which Apple gave to its Apple Music subscribers at no extra cost almost two years ago) on your iPhone, you need a fairly involved wired system commencing with the Apple Lightning to USB camera adapter (which is limited to 24-bit/48kHz) then a third-party portable DAC to get you up to resolution, then a set of good wired headphones.

And the slightly lowlier Lossless tier? You still need wired headphones – although your iPhone's onboard DAC is good enough to give you the goods provided you're attaching a cable; something like Apple's still-great EarPods.

If AirPods Pro 3 could grant loyal Apple devotees access to Apple Music's Hi-Res Lossless tier, it'd be a home run.