AirPods Pro 3 Review: Enhanced Comfort, Sound, Fitness & Live Translation

AirPods Pro 3 stand at the top of Apple’s lineup: stylish design, impressive functionality, and tight integration into the ecosystem. Last week the company introduced the third generation of this line, continuing the update tradition since its debut in 2019.

I’ve been using AirPods Pro 3 since the announcement, and I can say: this is truly a revolutionary update. Below I share my experience and conclusions.

Comfort and Fit

The company claims that the new internal design fits a larger share of people than ever before. This is supported by hundreds of thousands of ear-canal scan data points, as well as long-running studies using the earbuds by test participants.

In the Pro 3 chassis you’ll notice noticeable changes: the shape is more natural with respect to the geometry of the ear canal, and the stems of the device are oriented forward for a better fit. The combination of new silhouettes and foam tips is used for the first time here.

The new foam pads are paired with silicone, making maintenance easier and ensuring a secure fit. Additionally, the updated design allows you to wear the earbuds for extended periods with almost no discomfort – I can work with them for more than five hours straight.

The kit includes five tip sizes – XXS, XS, S, M, and L – increasing the chances of finding the perfect variant. Compared with previous models, people often opt for smaller sizes, so it’s worth trying the smaller tips if you previously used the medium.

Overall, changes are not drastic in shape, but Apple refined details that affect comfort and fit: a more natural profile and a new retention mechanism make a difference even during extended use.

Sound Quality

Interestingly, AirPods Pro 3 continue to use the same H2 chip as the 2022 models. This underscores that H2 itself is a powerful platform. Apple claims significantly better active noise cancellation (ANC) compared with the previous generation – in real-world tests the difference is indeed noticeable.

In my home office, background noise is like a faint tick from outside, but AirPods Pro 3 instantly suppress it, allowing immersion in conversations or music. In noisier environments, the earbuds also handle loud sound sources – from voices to music overhead – better than the previous generation.

As for overall sound quality – Apple describes it as more spacious and clearer across the entire range. Although earphones typically aim for a neutral profile, the new generation offers noticeably better bass reproduction and an expanded soundstage. For example, in a musician’s repertoire and arrangement, you can really hear greater clarity and space between instruments, and the vocals sound more expressive.

Tests include examples from different genres: from classical musicals to instrumental Explosions in the Sky – the sound has become more open and rich. It’s also interesting that Apple actively maintains progress in the upcoming update cycle: the question of the H3 chip will soon become relevant in the context of new capabilities and improved connections between devices.

Overall, most users will notice an improvement in sound quality compared with the previous generation. The sound is more balanced, with better instrument separation and clearer vocals, even if you’re not an audiophile with ultra-high demands.

In the future, we can expect new capabilities of the H3 chip, enabling better inter-device communication and faster switching between audio sources, but today the AirPods Pro 3 already demonstrate substantial improvements in sound quality and overall audio performance.

Separately, it’s worth noting the adaptive audio mode and transparency mode: they work well, altering sound to suit the situation, but there haven’t been any major leaps forward compared with the previous generation. At the same time, these tools continue to impress with everyday usability.

“AirPods Pro 3 deliver an immersive spatial listening experience. We designed a custom multi-port acoustic architecture that precisely controls the airflow carrying sound to the ear. This transforms the bass response. It expands the soundstage, so you hear every instrument and the vocals sound incredibly clear during listening to music, watching shows, and calls.”

Although I don’t consider myself an audiophile, the overall sound picture has improved: the profile is stable and suits most genres, but now the sound has more expressive nuances and greater detail. For example, in classic musicals and instrumental compositions, the space between layers of sound feels more open.

As for the future H3 chip – this is intriguing: will it bring even better connectivity, faster switching between devices, or uncompromised audio separation? The field of innovation holds a lot of interesting things ahead, and Apple intends to lead these changes with the new AirPods Pro 3.

Right now, AirPods Pro 3 sound excellent and offer better ANC than before. Adaptive Audio and Transparency mode continue to impress, though there hasn’t been a dramatic revolution in these modes yet.

Fitness

This time Apple is for the first time integrating activity monitoring directly into the AirPods: a built-in heart-rate sensor allows tracking of your pulse during workouts.

Although these aren’t the first headphones with such functionality, a new approach is used: a photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor emits infrared light at a high frequency and synchronizes with the Apple Fitness app on iPhone. This enables tracking of more than 50 workouts and storing data in one place. Live Activity makes monitoring activity during workouts simpler.

Heart-rate data often matches Apple Watch data, but accuracy depends on how the earbuds sit. The combination of data from both devices yields more stable readings during intensive workouts, and after a workout you can review the stats in the Fitness and Health apps, seeing the data source – from AirPods Pro 3 or from the watch.

Integration with Apple Watch and support for Apple Fitness+ underscore the ecosystem advantage: AirPods Pro 3 become not just audio devices, but part of a health and fitness system.

Live Translation

Live Translation delivers translations nearly in real time: you put on the headphones, converse with a person speaking another language, and the translation appears in your ears. Processing runs on the iPhone using Apple Intelligence, without sending data to the cloud.

Apple says the system understands context and phrasing, which is important for accurate translation. In real-world conditions, translations are fast and natural, but with a slight delay due to context. Translations also work in the reverse direction – your words appear on the other side’s screen in the language of your choice.

Live Translation is currently in beta and has some minor glitches. Yet already this feature works quite reliably, providing real help in travel and cross-cultural communication. Notably, it supports five languages – English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish – with a promise to expand to four more languages by the end of the year: Italian, Japanese, Korean and Chinese (Simplified).

This feature is not exclusive to AirPods Pro 3: it also appears in AirPods Pro 2. However, it gives a clear glimpse of the future of headphones as a multifunctional device with a broader set of services.

Battery and Case

According to Apple, the battery life will be up to eight hours with ANC enabled, which is 33% more than the previous generation. In practice, the earbuds often last 8–9 hours per charge.

However, total usage time has decreased compared to the AirPods Pro 2: the case now provides about 24 hours of use (16 hours from the case and 8 hours from the earbuds), while the previous generation offered roughly 30 hours. This is due to the case design, which has become taller to better cradle the earbuds and easier to connect them.

In practice, the convenience during flights or travel matters more, so the decrease in overall longevity may be justified by the convenience and comfortable case form.

The AirPods Pro 3 case is equipped with an Ultra Wideband chip for improved integration with Find My and lacks a physical pairing button in favor of a capacitive button.

Summary

The evolution of AirPods Pro since the initial 2019 release seems well-considered: the design has hardly changed, but small yet meaningful improvements in fit, noise cancellation, and sound quality make the device better than its predecessor. The added heart-rate sensor broadens the use of the earbuds in health, and Live Translation demonstrates the direction of the future – more features tied to Apple services integration.

Of course, for some users the internal design may feel uncomfortable, but that’s a matter of taste. Today, the AirPods Pro 3 are one of the best-value options in Apple’s lineup and a substantial update over the previous generation.

The AirPods Pro 3 are now available, and they’re worth getting if you’re looking for a full-featured pair of earbuds with enhanced ecosystem integration and new health and translation capabilities.