Price: $179 or $249
Seventy bucks separates the AirPods 4 With ANC ($179) and the AirPods Pro 3 ($249). That's not a huge difference, but it could be large enough to sway you one direction or the other. The most important thing to know is that both pairs of earphones are often on sale, which changes the "Which one should I get?" equation to a degree. We've seen the AirPods 4 as low as $139 and the brand new Pro 3s as low as $239. (The AirPods Pro 2s were often on sale for as low as $179.)
In the end, your timing may play the biggest role in what you pay for either pair.
Winner: AirPods 4 With ANC
Design: Clearly Kin
The AirPods Pro 3 and AirPods 4 look like they’re relatives. They’re built from the same white plastic and have the same high-quality build. Some design differences are obvious, but you won’t get a dramatically better look or build by spending extra cash on the AirPods Pro 3. That’s a good thing—Apple is known for making all of its products beautiful.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn't worry about durability at all. The AirPods Pro 3 have an IP57 water resistance rating, which means they’ll survive most water exposure—including sweat, rain, and even accidental drops in a puddle. It’s higher than the IP54 rating on the AirPods 4, which should still survive sweat and rain, but probably wouldn’t work if you accidentally submerge them. Neither are designed for swimming, so even if you get the AirPods Pro 3, don’t intentionally use them in a pool or in the bath.
Essentially, the AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 3 are on par when it comes to looks, but with improved durability, the AirPods Pro 3 win here.
Winner: AirPods Pro 3
Comfort: Each Has Its Perks
Some of the design changes to the AirPods Pro are aimed at making them more comfortable than the previous generation, plus they’re more secure in the ears, thanks to their new foam-infused eartips. It definitely helps, at least in earbud security—the last-generation AirPods Pro 2 were comfortable, and the new earbuds are too. In testing, I found the AirPods Pro 3 have a tighter fit due to the new ear tip design and the shape of the earbuds. But that didn’t make them less comfortable, and Apple includes more eartip sizes for the new model, which should help them fit in a wider array of ears.
Nonetheless, it’s hard to beat the comfort level of the AirPods 4. That, of course, is because the AirPods 4 don’t create a seal in your ears at all. Instead, they rest in your outer ear canal, so they’re a little less noticeable.
The AirPods 4 are slightly more comfortable over extended periods of listening, but the AirPods Pro 3 are more stable in the ears, which helps for things like working out. This one’s a tie.
Winner: Tie
Cases: Compact and Convenient
Just like the earbuds themselves, the charging cases are visually similar. They’re also both made from the signature AirPods white plastic. Both are small and portable, too—though the AirPods Pro 3’s case is a little larger than the AirPods 4unless you're looking to save money. Nevertheless, it’ll still easily fit in most pockets, and you won’t even feel it in a bag or backpack.
Both cases charge with USB-C and can charge wirelessly on a Qi or Apple Watch charger. However, the slightly larger footprint allows the AirPods Pro 3’s charging case to support the actual magnets in MagSafe, and it's compatible with Qi2 as well. So, while the AirPods 4 can be placed on a Qi2 or MagSafe charging pad that’s horizontal, it won’t magnetically attach to them.
The AirPods Pro 3 may have a slightly larger charging case, but it’s not large enough to make an impact in real life—and the larger size gives it support for MagSafe, which I think is more important. Moreover, the Pro 3 case includes Apple's latest H2 chip, which allows for more price location with the Find My app, and it includes a small speaker so you can make them beep to help locate them faster.
Winner: AirPods Pro 3
Bluetooth and Connectivity: Birds of a Feather
This one’s easy—both the AirPods 4 and the AirPods Pro 3 provide the same overall connectivity features. They both support Apple’s Automatic Switching—so if you pair them with one Apple device, they can switch automatically between all of the supported devices signed in to your iCloud account. That’s handy if you have lots of Apple products, because it allows both the AirPods 4 and the AirPods Pro 3 to connect to more of them than Bluetooth multipoint allows for.
At a base level, both give you Bluetooth 5.3 with the AAC, AAC-ELD, and SBC codecs.
Winner: Tie
Battery Life: A Clear Winner
Perhaps the single most disappointing thing about the AirPods 4 is their battery life. The earbuds last for only four hours of continuous listening with ANC enabled, which is lower than the vast majority of other earbuds out there. They can hit 20 hours of total use with the charging case, but while that’s definitely not terrible, it’s not class-leading either.
The AirPods Pro 3 are better in both cases. The earbuds themselves double the AirPods 4 with eight hours of continuous listening with ANC enabled. With the charging case, they’ll get 24 hours. It’s an easy win, and I wish the competition were closer in this category.
Winner: AirPods Pro 3
Extra Features: You Get What You Pay For
Apple differentiates between its standard AirPods and Pro models with the range of features it includes for each. Both earbuds have things like Spatial Audio (including head-tracking) and the aforementioned Automatic Switching, which is handy.
They also both have the new Live Translation feature that was released alongside the AirPods Pro 3, though to use it on the AirPods 4, you’ll need to make sure you have iOS 26 on your iPhone 15, 16, or 17 and the latest firmware on your AirPods. That feature is extremely useful—it uses Apple Intelligence to translate speech around you, works on-device, and is aimed at more accurately translating speech by parsing entire sentences rather than each word individually.
Other features are mostly reserved for the AirPods Pro 3, though. The most notable of these is heart rate monitoring. The AirPods Pro 3 have a new heart rate monitor that you can use with the Apple Fitness app to track over 50 different types of workouts. The AirPods Pro 3 also has a suite of hearing health features, including the ability to conduct a hearing test and even use the earbuds as a hearing aid.
There’s a clear winner here. You may not care about all the extra features provided by the AirPods Pro 3, but they do put the Pro earbuds ahead of the base AirPods.
Winner: AirPods Pro 3
Active Noise Cancellation: No Contest
This one’s an easy win for the AirPods Pro 3. It’s actually pretty impressive how solid the ANC is in the AirPods 4 With ANC, given the earbuds don’t create a seal in your ear canal, and instead rely on so-called anti-noise to cancel out sounds around you. But they’re no match for the AirPods Pro 3; it’s not even close.
With the AirPods 4, you’ll still be able to hear noise from your environment, but you hear it a little less. The AirPods Pro 3 provide excellent noise cancellation for wireless earbuds. The ANC in those is up there with the best wireless earbuds on the market and does an excellent job at blocking out everything from plane noise to nearby conversations.
Winner: AirPods Pro 3
Transparency Mode: Both Are Brilliant
It’s a little easier for the AirPods 4 to provide a high-quality transparency mode, given they’re not ear-sealing buds and just need to add in some of the higher frequencies to make for a natural sound. The AirPods Pro 3 sound just as natural because of how outstanding Apple’s transparency mode is in general. Transparency mode is one area where Apple is ahead of its rivals, consistently delivering detailed, natural sound. Both the AirPods Pro 3 and the AirPods 4 sound excellent in transparency mode, so a clear winner doesn't emerge.
Winner: Tie
Sound Quality: Easy to Choose
The AirPods 4 sound fantastic, especially for earbuds that don’t create a seal. Usually, this limits the bass response that earbuds can produce, and the bass response on the AirPods 4 isn’t amazing, but it's impressive considering their inescapable limitations.
The AirPods Pro 3, however, are head and shoulders above the AirPods 4. They deliver deep, impactful bass, excellent high-frequency detail, and well-tuned mids in between. They’re not the most neutral-sounding earbuds, but they sound incredible no matter what you choose to listen to.
Winner: AirPods Pro 3
Mic Quality: You'll Hear the Difference
The microphones in the AirPods Pro 3 are better than the last generation and perform brilliantly for voice calls. The AirPods 4 perform perfectly well, too, but the AirPods Pro 3 do a better job of capturing the full range of a voice while cancelling out background noise. The Pro 3s are simply better if you need to take a call.
Winner: AirPods Pro 3