AirPods Pro 3 Review: A Balanced Upgrade
Apple’s AirPods Pro 3 arrived with the promise of smarter noise cancellation, better health-minded features, and a refined fit. After a month of daily use, the experience reads as a carefully calibrated mix of gains and compromises. If you loved the Pro 2 for its seamless simplicity, you’ll notice both worthy improvements and new questions to answer in your everyday routine.
The Battery Life Paradox: More on a Single Charge, Less in Total
Apple boosted listening time on a single charge from 6 hours with the Pro 2 to 8 hours with the Pro 3. That is a meaningful uplift for long work sessions, flights, and commutes where uninterrupted listening is valuable. Yet the total battery life when you factor in the charging case drops from 30 hours on the Pro 2 to 24 hours on the Pro 3. It’s a subtle number on a spec sheet, but in daily life it becomes a tangible scheduling element.
In practice, the Pro 3’s case now demands more attention. Whereas the Pro 2 could reasonably disappear into your routine for days, the Pro 3 invites a nightly recharge ritual alongside your phone and watch. The shift from “set it and forget it” to a more mindful charging cadence can feel like a step backward even as the earbuds themselves are clearly forward-looking.
Fit and Comfort: A Redesign That Divides Opinions
The Pro 3 sits on the head with a new design philosophy rooted in over 10,000 3D ear scans and five ear tip sizes, including a new XXS option. The intent is to tailor the seal to more ears and improve stability, but real-world results vary. Some users report a fitter, more secure fit that reduces dropouts, while others (including this tester) find the new shape less comfortable than the Pro 2 after extended wear.
That discrepancy matters because comfort and seal directly impact how well the active noise cancellation (ANC) works and how long you’ll want to wear the buds in a row. If you already loved the Pro 2’s profile, you may have to relearn the fit to maximize both comfort and performance.
Where the Pro 3 Excels: Features That Matter Day to Day
Beyond fit, the AirPods Pro 3 deliver several upgrades that shift how you use them in real life. A built-in heart rate sensor, supported by a photoplethysmography (PPG) system that interrogates tissue with infrared light at high speed, brings health-tracking capabilities into Apple’s ecosystem with noticeable accuracy. This isn’t a gimmick; it sits on par with dedicated fitness wearables for everyday heart-rate monitoring in workouts and rest.
ANC has sharpened noticeably. In noisy environments like busy cafés or aircraft cabins, the Pro 3 reduces ambient sound more aggressively than its predecessor, creating a calmer listening space with less fatigue after long sessions. The redesigned acoustic chamber also refines bass response, delivering tighter stereo imaging for more satisfying music and podcasts.
Durability and resilience follow suit with an IP57 rating, meaning stronger resistance to sweat and water. Apple’s Live Translation feature remains a compelling beta: real-time multi-language translation helps on travel or mixed-language conversations, even if it isn’t flawless yet in every scenario.
To Upgrade or Not: Navigating the Real-World Decision
After thirty days with the Pro 3, the verdict is nuanced. The earbuds represent Apple’s most technically sophisticated iteration yet, pairing advanced health sensing, stronger ANC, and a robust build. Yet the trade-off—a shorter total case life and a more attention-demanding charging routine—matters in daily life, especially if you’re coming from the Pro 2 or similar models.
Who should consider upgrading? If you’re using older AirPods models or even early Pro generations, you’ll likely notice meaningful gains in noise handling, sound quality, and fitness features that align with everyday life. Heavier users who value longer listening sessions and improved health metrics will find those upgrades compelling. Conversely, owners of the Pro 2—or buyers who prioritized battery longevity and effortless charging—may want to await further refinements or a compelling reason to upgrade now.
Bottom Line: A Forward-Looking Yet Non-Revolutionary Step
The AirPods Pro 3 embody Apple’s ongoing ambition to fuse health tracking, rugged construction, and top-tier noise control into a cohesive audio ecosystem. They push the envelope on what smart earbuds can track and how they perform acoustically, but they also ask you to adapt your charging habits. For Apple enthusiasts, they remain an obvious pick in the lineup—evolution over revolution, with trade-offs that depend on how you use your earbuds day to day.
