Every year, I go through the same thing, as someone who lives and breathes tech and has basically put all my chips with the Apple ecosystem. Apple's big autumn launch event rolls around, and I have a major strategy call to make – to see whether there are upgrades I need to make, or if I can last another year.
I've already gone on the record to say that I'm aiming to get another year from my iPhone 15 Pro, a sentiment I stand by even if its battery life is starting to be a bummer. It's pretty clear to me that the iPhone 17 is the deal of this generation, with a whole host of previously "pro" features making their way to the base phone, with double the storage and no price bump.
Still, there's only one device from Apple's event that I've actually pre-ordered, even though I really did hope to get through without spending any money, and that's the AirPods Pro 3. For nearly a year, I've been using the excellent Technics EAH-AZ100 as my default wireless earbuds, with great pleasure, but before that, I rocked the AirPods Pro (1st generation) pretty much since the day they came out.
They've stood the test of time admirably, with sound quality that still holds up well, noise cancelling that has long felt impressive, and the killer feature of that unbelievably quick device swapping between my iPhone, Apple Watch and MacBook Pro. Still, the battery life is now pretty terrible after years of degrading, and my case is also more scratched than anything else I own.
So, the question is whether I need a new pair. The honest truth is that, as someone who reviews earbuds all the time, I constantly get my hands on new ones, so I can't pretend I need some AirPods to get by. However, my personal use is another question, and it's always nice to return to a pair of earbuds that don't need to be returned at some point, and which can be relied upon for years to come.
That is all to say that I've pre-ordered some AirPods Pro 3 and I'm really looking forward to assessing the jump from first-generation earbuds to third. By Apple's own claims, they should have drastically better noise-cancelling and battery life, along with those heart-rate tracking smarts to pair with my Apple Watch's sensor, so I should be pretty comprehensively covered.
I won't know if it felt like a good purchase for at least a few months, but right now I'm very excited to get my hands on Apple's newest version of a pretty flawless product.
