AirPods Pro 3: all the latest rumors and leaks, plus what we want to see

According to Apple, the AirPods Pro 2 are the most popular headphones ever. While a follow-up could easily beat that statistic, the company will have to actually release the AirPods Pro 3 first…

While some AirPods fans thought we'd see the AirPods Pro 3 at Apple's 2024 Glowtime event, it didn't happen. Instead, we saw the Apple AirPods 4, and AirPods 4 with Noise Cancelling, a few new colors for the AirPods Max (yes, that was a little underwhelming) and three new features for the AirPods Pro 2.

So here's where we're at now: that much-vaunted hearing aid feature initially rolled out to US AirPods Pro 2 owners, (see the official ad if you need a quick cry) and has since finally been confirmed for a full UK release in early 2025. And for the most part, it got a huge thumbs-up from us (and those close to us).

'But what about AirPods Pro 3?' we hear you cry! Well, what we do know (according to Mark Gurman's Power On newsletter) is that Apple's big push right now is adding a heart-rate monitor. The thing is, it could be a way off – and it has even been suggested that Apple may put cameras in its AirPods before it adds a ticker-taker. Why? To put eyes in your ears, rather than on the frame of any future AR glasses (and thus trounce Meta), that's why…

Look, 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.

We've corralled all the Apple AirPods Pro 3 rumors and leaks so far, though many of the ones we've heard actually ended up being about other products – including the much-leaked Beats Powerbeats Pro 2. So if you're weighing up one of the best AirPods Pro deals right now, you might want to hang on.

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: the leaks and rumors

Although AirPods Pro 3 were firmly barred from last year's Apple event, a missive from Mark Gurman soon after it old us that the new Pro buds are "due as early as next year" (as in, this year: 2025). What can we expect? Well, it's not hard to see Apple's big push towards health-tracking with AirPods, with heart-rate monitoring now a step closer – but still a way off. And the possibility of cameras in your AirPods has been suggested, as a quick(er) way for Apple to level up augmented reality and visionOS output while the company works on its AR glasses. But none of these features are expected to make their debut in AirPods Pro 3, because although great strides are being made, the tech just isn't there yet – that's according to Gurman late last year anyway.

Why would you want Apple IR camera lenses poking out of your ears? It's better to think of them as working with your other Apple kit, rather than just for seeing things from the side of your head. An IR camera could handle the job of being a capacitive sensor for gesture control, for instance, while also offering a wider field of vision for your Vision Pro. Your AirPods could potentially feed data to your Apple Watch or iPhone in future versions of Apple Intelligence too, (although hopefully not just to ping you targeted ads about the store, bar, or venue you just saw).

It isn't the first time Gurman's mentioned it either. In February 2024, the noted Apple analyst claimed that Apple was exploring AirPods with cameras. Then, a few months later, fellow analyst Ming-Chi Kuo alleged that future best AirPods could include Apple earbuds that include infrared cameras, to be paired with your Vision Pro headset to create a spatial audio experience to trounce any Meta Orion rivals. And two noted tipsters saying the same thing is infinitely more believable than one.

What about heart-rate monitoring? Here, you should look to recently leaked images of the Powerbeats Pro 2, above. See that 'Heart Rate' button, in the app? It looks to us as if Apple's trialling the feature in its Beats subsidiary brand, before releasing it to its top-tier AirPods…

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 would be an ideal time 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 at that point 2024 was still on the table – in August 2024, a fairly reliable leaker said that AirPods Pro 3 would come 'soon'.

As for possible pricing, we don't have anything concrete whatsoever – but we can make an educated guess. 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.

Elsewhere (and as you'd expect), analyst and noted Apple leaker Mark Gurman has of course made some claims about the AirPods Pro 3 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. At the iPhone 16 launch, we learned that these features will be available on the AirPods Pro 2, but they'll probably also come to the Pro 3 when they roll out.

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.

AirPods Pro 3: rumored 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 last year. 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 there – or in September, which would have been more traditional.

Where Apple's unannounced AirPods Pro 3 are concerned, we need to go back a 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 – allow users a bit of manual control over ANC and spatial audio – and come off looking very good indeed.

Elsewhere, the flagship Technics EAH-AZ100 earbuds are the second Technics offering to feature 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.