It’s been practically three years since Apple launched the AirPods Professional 2, and barring a refresh to introduce USB-C charging and different minor enhancements, there have been no modifications within the intervening months.
That’s all set to alter very quickly. Apple is extensively tipped to be planning to launch AirPods Professional 3 alongside the iPhone 17 in an occasion in Cupertino on September 9.
So what does three years’ price of enhancements appear to be? Listed here are the 5 largest rumored upgrades to stay up for.
Chances are you’ll like
1. A refreshed design
(Picture credit score: Tom’s Information)
As with the transfer from AirPods Professional to AirPods Professional 2, evidently Apple gained’t be throwing out the acquainted design utterly, however reasonably barely tweaking it.
On X, Asher Dipprey writes that the charging case will probably be a little bit smaller, but additionally abandon the pairing button for a touch-sensitive space.
New data on AirPods Professional 3…The case dimension will lower barely, and the pairing button will probably be eliminated. As an alternative, you possibly can faucet on the case itself. pic.twitter.com/vA7dY2Pa4jAugust 26, 2025
Nonetheless, in a publish on his web site, the leaker Majin Bu claims that there will probably be “no important modifications within the dimensions” of the charging case.
However he does agree that the pairing button will probably be eliminated, and goes a step additional, indicating that customers will be capable to use the case for “primary features like music playback and quantity management”.
2. Improved audio high quality
It ought to come as no shock that after three years away, the AirPods Professional 3 will enhance on sound high quality. Certainly, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman acknowledged that audio high quality can be a spotlight space in a publication final 12 months.
How massive an enchancment this will probably be stays to be seen. Hopefully, we’ll see one thing that may give our present favorites — the Sony WF-1000XM5 — a run for his or her cash.
3. A lift to noise cancellation
If, like me, you frequently journey on noisy public transport, then you definitely’ll know that efficient Energetic Noise Cancellation (ANC) is invaluable.
As with the improved audio high quality, you’d anticipate ANC to enhance over three years, however the leaker Kosutami wrote on X final 12 months that will probably be “significantly better than [the] earlier model”.
How significantly better is “significantly better”? We gained’t know for certain till we’ve listened, nevertheless it’s price remembering that Apple claimed the second technology supplied “as much as 2x” the efficiency, so hopefully we’ll see one thing comparable once more right here.
4. Added well being sensors
(Picture credit score: Tom’s Information)
Maybe the most important change is about to be the arrival of well being sensors. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman believes that AirPods Professional 3 will function a heart-rate sensor, a temperature sensor and “expertise that tracks a slew of physiological measures.”
How it will all be applied stays to be seen, however one has already arrived in one other set of Apple earbuds: PowerBeats Professional 2. When the sporty earbuds arrived earlier this 12 months, they included built-in heart-rate monitoring alongside a slew of different upgrades (although notably heart-rate knowledge is just taken by Apple Well being if it might probably’t be collected from an Apple Watch).
5. A brand new chipset
AirPods Professional 1 used the H1 chipset, whereas AirPods Professional 2 used the H2. So it stands to purpose that AirPods Professional 3 will undertake H3.
This may increasingly not sound that essential, however the H2 chipset is what retains every thing operating easily from ANC and Adaptive EQ to Hey Siri and quick switching. With added well being options for the H3 to trace as nicely, efficiency could possibly be key.
Vitality effectivity could possibly be essential right here too. The AirPods Professional 2 buds’ six-hour battery life is nice, however could possibly be higher. PowerBeats Professional 2 affords ten hours with ANC enabled (albeit with a bigger bodily footprint) so hopefully Apple will shut the hole with its subsequent earbuds.
AirPods Professional 3 outlook
(Picture credit score: Tom’s Information)
Whereas all of this sounds promising, whether or not this will probably be a worthy improve for AirPods Professional 2 homeowners continues to be up within the air.
How significantly better will the sound high quality and ANC be? We gained’t know till we’ve had time to check the brand new buds ourselves, and examine them to the finest wi-fi earbuds out there at present.
Likewise, the well being sensors could also be recreation altering or a gimmick, relying on implementation. We’ve already seen Apple introduce heart-rate sensing on its PowerBeats Professional 2 earphones, the place it’s extra of a pleasant additional reasonably than a critical promoting level (particularly as Apple ignores it should you’re sporting an Apple Watch).
We’ll know quickly sufficient. Right here’s the right way to watch the September 9 Apple occasion stay, if you wish to watch alongside in actual time.
