Apple AirPods Pro 3 review: A smarter pair of ANC earbuds

The Apple AirPods Pro 3 arrived last year with a handful of meaningful upgrades, including improved sound, longer battery life and built-in heart rate tracking. Apple has also redesigned the earbuds, although the changes won’t work for everyone.

After my initial tests, I wasn't 100% happy with the buds' design, and, if I'm 100% honest, I still prefer the AirPods Pro 2 to their successors for long-term wear. However, it's undeniable that the new model is better in almost every conceivable way, from sound to ANC and beyond.

I've been testing the AirPods Pro 3 on and off since its launch, and even though I can't say I'm just as impressed with them as I was with their predecessors, I can certainly see their appeal. Sure, you might often find me sporting my purple Apple AirPods Max 2, but when I need something more subtle, the AirPods Pro 3 will do.

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As you've probably already guessed, the AirPods Pro 3 might not be the best of the best noise-cancelling headphones, but I'm confident many people will find what they are looking for in them. Should you upgrade? Let's find out.

Apple AirPods Pro 3 review

Price and availability

The AirPods Pro 3 were launched in September 2025 and are available to purchase now directly from Apple UK, Apple US, and Apple AU, with prices starting at £219/ $249/ €249/ A$429.

They are cheaper than the AirPods Pro 2 were when they launched in the UK. The AirPods Pro 2 originally sold for £249, and the USB-C version knocked that down to £229. In other regions, the price remained the same, at $249/€249/A$429.

Design and build quality

At first glance, the Apple AirPods Pro 3 don’t look radically different from their predecessor, but Apple has made several subtle tweaks to the shape and fit.

Apple says the AirPods Pro 3 redesign was intended to improve fit, comfort and stability through changes such as a deeper nozzle angle, new foam-infused ear tips and revised acoustic architecture.

According to the company’s official launch materials, the new shape was specifically created to improve fit, stability and passive noise isolation. Apple claims the redesign was informed by “over 10,000 ear scans” and “more than 100,000 hours of user research.”

The brand also explained that the internal architecture was “completely re-engineered” to make each earbud smaller internally, while changing the external geometry and ear tip alignment to increase stability during activities like running and HIIT workouts.

In practice, and unlike the AirPods Pro 2, which sat neatly and almost flush inside my ears, the new model protrudes more noticeably and feels bulkier.

As a result, I struggled to achieve the same secure fit as before, especially during movement, with the earbuds feeling less “locked in” than the previous generation.

Swapping to the largest ear tips improves passive isolation and helps the ANC perform better, but introduces discomfort during longer listening sessions.

Build quality, however, remains predictably excellent. The earbuds still feel premium, lightweight and durable, with the same polished Apple finish and pocketable charging case people expect from the brand.

Features

Thanks to the new H3 chip, for the first time on a pair of AirPods, the AirPods Pro 3 lets you record workout heart rate data directly from the earbuds without needing to wear an Apple Watch, immediately making the buds feel more connected to Apple’s wider health and fitness ecosystem.

In practice, the feature worked surprisingly well during runs and gym sessions. I wouldn’t replace a dedicated chest strap or sports watch with it, but for casual fitness tracking and general workout data, it felt accurate enough to be genuinely useful.

Apple also introduced a new Live Translation feature, which is... fine, I guess, but nothing revolutionary. Not yet, anyway! If you think you can pop the buds in and chat with a Spanish-speaking friend on a busy street, you will be bitterly disappointed.

The AirPods Pro 3 hasn't ushered in the Babel Fish moment, but it certainly shows in which direction the technology is headed. Once companies like Apple can reduce response time (e.g., real-time translation) and isolate the voice of the person speaking to you, things will be different.

Apart from this, the ecosystem integration remains as seamless as ever. Pairing is instant, device switching is effortless, and all the small Apple conveniences people expect are present and working flawlessly. If you already use Apple hardware daily, the AirPods Pro 3 slot into that ecosystem almost invisibly.

Audio performance

Apple makes some huge claims about the audio performance of the Apple AirPods Pro 3, saying the earbuds deliver “the world’s best in-ear Active Noise Cancellation” and up to twice the noise reduction of the previous generation thanks to the new acoustic architecture, updated microphones and computational audio enhancements.

In some areas, I can absolutely see where those claims are coming from. Sound quality is excellent here, with the AirPods Pro 3 producing a clean, balanced and detailed sound signature that works brilliantly across different genres.

Apple says the redesigned internal airflow system and next-generation Adaptive EQ improve bass response and instrument separation, and, in practice, the earbuds do sound more spacious and refined overall.

Apple’s Adaptive Audio system dynamically blends ANC and transparency depending on your surroundings, and the effect feels remarkably natural in day-to-day use. External sounds come through with almost eerie realism at times, to the point where I repeatedly forgot I was even wearing earbuds.

Where things became more complicated for me was active noise cancellation. Despite Apple’s confidence about the upgraded ANC performance, I actually found the AirPods Pro 2 more effective in real-world environments.

The new earbuds never formed quite the same seal in my ears, which meant external noise crept in more noticeably during commuting and in busy indoor settings.

I suspect part of that comes down to the redesigned fit rather than the ANC system itself. Apple says the updated shape and new foam-infused ear tips improve passive isolation and stability, but, in my case, the opposite happened. The largest ear tips improved isolation somewhat, but also became uncomfortable during longer listening sessions.

So while the underlying audio tech here is clearly impressive, and the sound quality itself is arguably the best Apple has delivered in a pair of earbuds so far, the overall listening experience felt slightly compromised by the new fit.

Battery life and charging

Apple claims the Apple AirPods Pro 3 offer up to eight hours of listening time on a single charge with ANC enabled, alongside up to 36 hours in total when using the charging case, a noticeable improvement over the previous generation and one of the more meaningful everyday upgrades introduced by the new H3 chip.

During testing, the battery performance largely lived up to those claims. I found myself charging the earbuds less frequently than the AirPods Pro 2, especially during long workdays and extended listening sessions.

The efficiency improvements aren’t dramatic enough to completely change how you use the earbuds, but they do make the overall experience feel less interrupted.

The case supports USB-C charging alongside wireless charging options, and it integrates seamlessly into Apple’s broader accessory ecosystem. Fast charging is still impressively convenient too, with short top-ups delivering enough battery life for several hours of playback.

Verdict

The Apple AirPods Pro 3 are a slightly frustrating product because, in many ways, they’re objectively better than their predecessor.

The new H3 chip delivers excellent sound quality, battery life is noticeably stronger, and features such as heart rate tracking help the earbuds feel more tightly integrated into Apple’s growing health ecosystem. Transparency Mode also remains astonishingly good and continues to set the benchmark for the category.

At the same time, the redesigned fit simply didn’t work as well for me as the AirPods Pro 2. The earbuds never felt quite as secure or comfortable, and that had a direct impact on ANC performance in real-world use. Apple clearly had good intentions with the redesign, but, in my experience, the changes created as many compromises as improvements.

If you’re upgrading from older AirPods, these are excellent earbuds. If you already own the AirPods Pro 2, especially the USB-C version, the decision feels much less straightforward.

Also consider

The Sony WF-1000XM6 are probably the closest non-Apple equivalent to the AirPods Pro 3. They combine excellent audio quality with class-leading noise cancellation, strong battery life and broad Android/iOS compatibility. Unlike Apple’s earbuds, though, you don’t need to be fully invested in one ecosystem to unlock their best features.

If you want premium ANC and a more universally comfortable fit without paying AirPods Pro 3 money, Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2 are a strong option. They don’t lock you into an ecosystem, work brilliantly across iOS and Android, and deliver a warmer, more immersive sound signature than Apple’s earbuds.