(Credit: Eric Zeman)
CUPERTINO—The AirPods Pro 3 deliver just about every update I was hoping for. They also add plenty of new features, such as heart rate monitoring with support for workouts and live language translation in person and on calls. I had a chance to give them a listen at Apple's headquarters during the “Awe Dropping” iPhone launch event. Here are my early impressions.
Now That's Some ANC, Baby
Apple says it has made a huge leap forward with its active noise cancellation (ANC) algorithms, and the result is some of the best noise cancellation I've experienced. I slipped a pair of AirPods Pro 3 buds into my ears in a room full of loud crowd noise, turned on the ANC, and marveled as the background noise of hundreds of people literally disappeared. I've never heard in-ear buds reduce that level of noise before. I also listened in a room with a simulated airplane engine with the same results; the roar of the engine faded entirely into the background.
How is Apple doing this? The first part of the improved ANC is on the outside. Apple has redesigned the eartips, which now include a foam liner under the silicone and come in five (rather than three) sizes. The expanded size selection will help you find a better fit, and the new eartips are twice as effective at passive noise isolation as before. This gives the microphones a head start, which can process the surrounding noise much faster and more accurately than before.
Apple didn't provide detailed specs at the event on what the algorithms are doing, but it doesn't matter. It works. Moreover, the transparency mode loses the distracting hiss of the Pro 2 buds.
So Much More Comfortable
The redesigned eartips and reshaped buds are far more comfortable to wear than the AirPods Pro 2. More importantly, the fit is superior. The tips have a bit more structure in the design, and the buds have a more natural ear-like shape. Though I didn't get to wear them for hours, I can say unequivocally that the Pro 3s are gentler on your ears than the Pro 2s.
Retuned Spatial Audio Expands the Soundstage
Apple gave the Pro 3 buds an overhaul in the audio department. With new drivers, new nozzles, and new electronics, the earphones produce a broader soundstage that benefits music mixed for Spatial Audio. The outstanding stereo effect allowed me to discern where the different instruments were situated in the room just by listening.
I sampled a half-dozen tracks from different music genres. All demonstrated just how cleanly and accurately the buds can deliver sound while producing a palpable boost in the lows and highs. The audio sounds brighter, without being overdone.
Live Translations Could Be a Game Changer
Google wowed us recently with its live, in-call language translations. Google's implementation, which relies on on-device LLM processing, is effective and fast. Apple's seems almost as good.
Apple had a native Spanish speaker tell a personal story in Spanish while we were wearing the buds. After a quick press of the Action Button, the live translation feature launched and translated her speech. The buds listen to what's said, clean the audio signal, relay it to the phone, where the onboard LLM parses it, receive the return translated signal from the phone, and play the translation in your ears.
Rather than perform a literal translation of the individual words, the iPhone listens to complete phrases and whole sentences. It waits until it has those phrases before performing the translation. This helps it understand the context and provide a more accurate result.
The one thing Apple doesn't do is return the translation in the original speaker's voice. Instead, it's the voice you set for Siri that recites in your ear. Google's live translation implementation mimics your vocal tone and speech patterns, which is part of what gives it that extra wow factor.
Even so, Apple is bringing live translations to the AirPods, and this could help lots of people. Only a handful of languages are available at the start (English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish, with Mandarin, Japanese, and Korean to follow later this year).
Calling All Fitness Fanatics
The other big feature is heart rate tracking. The buds include invisible light sensors that track how fast your heart is beating. This means you can use the buds to track workouts.
In a sample workout, the buds quickly locked onto my heart rate and tracked it as it went up and down during a short walk. The buds can provide not only heart rate information, but, together with an iPhone, count steps, distance traveled, calories burned, and other essential metrics. Determining their accuracy will require testing.
This could solve problems for people who don't like to wear fitness watches when exercising.
All the Rest
The Apple AirPods Pro 3 have a whole lot more. Apple improved the buds' battery life from six to eight hours per charge (with ANC on). The buds now carry an IP57 rating, making them mostly waterproof and thus better for sweaty (or rainy) workouts. The buds work better with Apple's Find My network and can be located with 1.5x better accuracy. The charging case is smaller (though not by much).
The best part? Apple is keeping the $249 price the same. That gives Apple a big advantage over Bose and Sony, which charge $299 and $329 for their competing noise-cancelling earphones.
We expect to publish a full review of the Apple AirPods Pro 3 in the coming weeks, so be sure to check back soon.