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Apple has recently unveiled the latest iteration of their renowned AirPods Pro, elevating the world’s most popular headphones to unprecedented heights. AirPods Pro 3 deliver unparalleled sound quality and the world’s best in-ear Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), removing up to twice as much noise as the previous-generation AirPods Pro and four times more than the original AirPods Pro.
The updated design helps AirPods Pro 3 fit even better than previous models, making activities like running, HIIT, and yoga, among others, more fun than ever. Apart from sweating to the beats of our favourite tracks, users can also use the AirPods Pro 3 to measure their heart rate and track over 50 workout types in the Fitness app on iPhone. Live Translation also comes to AirPods, making face-to-face conversations easier by helping users connect even if they don’t speak the same language.
“With AirPods Pro 3, the most popular headphones take a massive leap forward, providing fantastic sound quality and the world’s best ANC of any in-ear wireless headphones. “AirPods Pro 3 take personal audio to the next level with an improved fit that provides greater stability for even more people, heart rate sensing, extended battery life, and Live Translation enabled by Apple Intelligence.”
John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering
World’s best active noise cancellation
The AirPods Pro 3 feature a new multiport acoustic architecture that is able to control the airflow that carries sound into the ear, helping deliver an exceptional spatial listening experience. With next-generation Adaptive EQ, the new design transforms the bass response, widens the soundstage so users hear every instrument, and brings vivid vocal clarity to higher frequencies across music, shows, and calls. With more personalised transparency, a user’s own voice and that of the people speaking to them sounds more natural than ever, helping them stay connected to their surroundings without missing a beat.
The new AirPods also deliver the world’s best ANC of any in-ear wireless headphones, made possible with ultra-low noise microphones and advanced computational audio combined with new foam-infused ear tips for greater passive noise isolation. They can deliver a dramatically more immersive listening experience, whether users are in transit, at the office, or winding down at home, offering ANC that’s up to 2x more effective than AirPods Pro 2, with 4x more noise removed compared to the original AirPods Pro. In addition, while listening to music with ANC enabled, the AirPods Pro 3 now provide up to eight hours of music playback (a 33 per cent increase over the previous generation).
The new in-ear design fits more people than ever
With over 10,000 ear scans and more than 100,000 hours of user research, the AirPods Pro 3 are the most secure and best-fitting AirPods ever. To deliver this improved fit for even more people, the internal architecture was completely re-engineered to make each AirPod smaller, while the external geometry of the ear tip was aligned to the center of the body for extra stability (a design informed by an unparalleled dataset of more than 300 million points). And with new foam-infused ear tips that now come in five sizes, including a new XXS size, the AirPods Pro 3 deliver an exceptional in-ear fit. Designed for increased durability with an IP57 sweat and water resistance, they are built to handle tough workouts and unpredictable weather.
Workout-ready performance
More people exercise with AirPods Pro than with any other headphones in the world, and this new version 3 takes workouts to the next level with Apple’s smallest custom-built heart rate sensor and integrated workout experience. To achieve this, the AirPods Pro 3 introduce a custom photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor that shines invisible infrared light pulsed at 256 times per second to measure light absorption in blood flow. Combined with sensor fusion from the AirPods Pro accelerometers, gyroscope, GPS, and a new on-device AI model on iPhone, users can start up to 50 different workout types, track their heart rate and calories burnt, close their Move ring, and earn awards in the Fitness app. By pairing the product with an iPhone, users will also have access to Workout Buddy, a first-of-its-kind fitness experience powered by Apple Intelligence that incorporates a user’s workout data and their fitness history to generate personalised, motivational insights during their session.
Live translation comes to AirPods
With AirPods Pro 3, Live Translation enables in-person communication across select languages and is available in beta. This transformational, hands-free capability is powered by computational audio and Apple Intelligence to help people easily connect with one another, whether they’re traveling to a new place, collaborating at work or school, or simply catching up with the people who matter most. When enabled, Live Translation helps users understand another language and communicate with others by speaking naturally with AirPods. To interact with someone who doesn’t have this hands-free capability, there’s an option to use the iPhone as a horizontal display, showing a live transcription of what the user is saying in the other person’s preferred language. When the other person responds, their speech is translated into the user’s preferred language with AirPods.
This feature is even more useful for longer conversations when both users are wearing their own AirPods. Due to the incredible noise cancellation properties, the AirPods are able to lower the volume of the other person speaking so that it’s easier to focus on the translation while staying connected in the interaction. Live Translation on AirPods is available in English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish and will be coming to four more languages by the end of the year: Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (simplified).
Hearing health experience with extended battery life
Continuing Apple’s dedication to hearing health, AirPods Pro 3 expand on the world’s first end-to-end hearing health experience introduced last fall. With the AirPods Pro, hearing protection finally comes to EU and UK users, who will benefit from the low exposure to loud environmental noise. The Hearing Test has already helped millions of people learn about their hearing with scientifically validated results from the comfort of their home. With next-level ANC removing even more background noise, it is easier than ever for users to take a hearing test and receive personalised assistance with the AirPods Pro 3. To help hearing aid users in louder environments like restaurants, Conversation Boost is now automatic, adding powerful amplification with background noise reduction. The AirPods Pro 3 also increase battery life in Transparency mode by 67 per cent over the previous generation, with up to 10 hours with a single charge.
AirPods Pro 3 and the environment
Apple 2030 is the company’s ambitious plan to be carbon neutral across its entire footprint by the end of this decade by reducing product emissions from their three biggest sources: materials, electricity, and transportation. To ensure its accomplishment, the AirPods Pro 3 are made with 40 per cent recycled content, including 100 per cent recycled cobalt in the battery and 65 per cent recycled plastic in the case. They are manufactured with 40 per cent renewable electricity, like wind and solar, across the supply chain. The AirPods Pro 3 are designed to last while meeting Apple’s high standards for energy efficiency and safe chemistry. The paper packaging is 100 per cent fibre-based and can be easily recycled.
