By David Phelan

Copyright independent

Apple AirPods Pro 3 design

The casual observer will think these are pretty similar to the previous generation. They’re a solid white plastic sphere topped with a soft ear tip, with a small stalk at the bottom pointing towards your mouth.

But if you look a little closer, the black marks on the white tell a new story. One of them, on the underside of the earbud, is a heart rate sensor. Apple says it’s the smallest custom-built sensor of this kind.

The idea is that when you are working out, in one of 50 different workouts, the earbuds can track your heart rate and calorie burn. I tested this and it worked well. Apple says the heart rate sensor is on a par with the one in the Apple Watch, so working out without the watch can still deliver heart rate information.

The AirPods Pro 2 came with four sets of ear tips to help you find the perfect fit. Now, there are five sets with a new XXS option, ensuring that you can find a fit that’s properly noise-isolating.

The tips themselves are different, using foam to help them achieve a more secure fit in the ear. If the medium was your perfect fit with the Pro 2, you may find a different size is better now. I found them to be a firmer, less squishy fit in the ear, which improved noise isolation and held the earbuds more securely in my ear.

The other significant design change is the introduction of an advanced chip into the charging case. If you lose the case, you can use the Apple Find My app to locate it, and it now works from one and a half times further away than before.

However, there’s no longer a physical reset button on the back of the AirPods case. Like AirPods 4, there’s a hidden sensor in the case which you tap three times to reset.

Apple AirPods Pro 3 audio

The audio is the big difference. Apple had already installed excellent noise-cancelling on AirPods Pro and AirPods Max. Now, the company claims it has best-in-class active noise cancelling (ANC) to remove even more background noise. While ANC algorithms are astute at quelling repetitive, predictable noises, like aircraft engine sounds, for instance, this goes further and aims to keep the world quieter around you for noises that don’t hit a steady rhythm like car horns or sirens.

In tests, this proved to be fantastic, with a noticeable upgrade in situations of lots of traffic, for instance, just be even more careful when crossing the road.

Apple claims it filters out twice as much noise as AirPods Pro 2, and four times as much as the original AirPods Pro, which were no slouch in their own right.

Earlier features, such as pausing audio when you take one bud out, are still there, and the transparency mode, which lets you hear the outside world, is designed to be more natural. I think it succeeds, with the result almost as convincing as taking the earbuds out completely.

Apple AirPods Pro 3 live translation

This feature is very cool. It also works with AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation and AirPods Pro 2, once you’ve updated to the new iOS 26 software.

Once you’ve set up the feature in the translate app on the iPhone and downloaded the appropriate languages, you can squeeze both of the earbud stems and face directly at someone speaking to you in a different language.

Live translation then speaks what they are saying in English (or your chosen target language). It takes a second to get used to it as it is smart enough to recognise that individual words may not mean the same on their own as they do in a phrase, so there’s a slight pause before it begins speaking.

To reply, you speak normally, and the iPhone’s screen shows your words in the other person’s language onscreen.

Since the language models are downloaded to the phone, the feature works even if you’re out of cellular or wifi range. That’s handy if you’re travelling, which is when you’re likely to need it, after all.

If, and I haven’t put this to the test, you’re talking to someone else wearing compatible AirPods, you don’t need the screen, as each person’s earbuds will translate with spoken text. I suspect it may make for slightly stilted conversations, but it’s probably much better than not being able to talk to each other at all.

However, these come with a big caveat. At the time of writing, live translation will not work in the EU. So, while the feature might be helpful in your local tapas restaurant, for now, it’s less useful if you’re actually in Spain.

Apple AirPods Pro 3 heart rate monitoring

A tiny heart rate monitor sits on the underside of each earbud speaker, placed there because it needs to see the inside of your ear to work. It’s designed to work specifically for workouts – unlike the heart rate sensing on Apple Watch, which happens in the background.

Here, you can open the Fitness app on the iPhone, and you’ll see an icon of the AirPods at the top right corner. You can start a workout here, and the heart rate is displayed on the iPhone screen instantly – I actually found it faster than the Apple Watch. It also means that if you’re running, where the watch would occasionally drop the reading, this stays constant. It also works with Fitness+ workouts, displaying heart rate and calorie burn onscreen in the Apple TV app, for instance. On top of that, it works with more than 50 workout types, from archery to yoga.

Apple AirPods Pro 3 hearing

The hearing health features on the AirPods Pro 3 are comprehensive. There’s a neat hearing test which will analyse your hearing and tell you if you need a little help. If you do, you can turn on hearing assistance, which means that when you’re wearing the earbuds in transparency mode, the AirPods will boost the voice of the person you’re talking to while reducing background noise.

There’s also hearing protection, which means that if you’re in a noisy environment, it can automatically reduce the sounds around you. This feature has been around for a while, but is only coming to the UK now as it meets the required local standard.

Apple AirPods Pro 3 battery life

How long you can listen to music has just gone up with these new earbuds. Previously, AirPods Pro 2 delivered six hours of listening with active noise cancellation. Now, that’s up by a third, to eight hours, which is perfect for the office. You get more battery life without ANC, too. If you have transparency mode on, for example, or if you’re using the AirPods Pro 3 with the hearing aid feature, it’s up to 10 hours. A five-minute recharge gives about an hour of listening time.

Apple AirPods Pro 3 price

When the first AirPods Pro appeared, they cost £249. More recently, the UK pricing has been as low as £229 for AirPods Pro 2. The new model is £219. It’s rare for Apple to increase prices between generations, but almost unheard of for the company to cut the price. For all the improvements – and a slightly lower price – I think these are the best value AirPods Pro yet.