Apple AirPods Pro 3 Rumored Release Date: These Are the Improvements I Want to See
Read more: Best wireless earbuds of 2025" target="_blank
MacOS Rumors recently spotted a post on X from a tipster called Kosutami who said Apple was planning to launch the AirPods Pro 3 and AirTag 2 in May or June of this year. That seems unlikely, given that Apple has previously launched next-generation AirPods alongside new iPhones in the fall. One exception was the AirPods Max, which was announced on Dec. 8, 2020, or about six weeks after the iPhone 12 was released.
While anything is possible, it seems more likely that the AirPods Pro 3 will arrive at the same time as the iPhone 17 in September. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who's usually a more reliable Apple whisperer, has said the AirPods Pro 3 will have a new design and feature heart-rate monitoring like Apple's new Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 -- but they're still months away from being launched.
With the Powerbeats Pro 2 getting the aforementioned heart-rate sensors, it now seems more likely that the AirPods Pro 3 will get them, too. I'm not sure how useful that feature is, especially if you already own an Apple Watch. However, Apple likely has grander plans for its buds' heart-rate monitoring and is still fleshing everything out, using the Powerbeats Pro 2 as a bit of a guinea pig.
Several tech outlets picked up on another Gurman report mentioning the possibility of temperature sensors and other physiological measurements coming to the AirPods. Both he and Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also reported that Apple was working on adding infrared cameras to future AirPods. Kuo's report suggested that the IR cameras could be used for everything including in-air hand gesture detection, enhancing spatial audio or detecting environmental changes for software, including Apple Intelligence. Don't expect to see any of that camera tech in the AirPods Pro 3, but maybe the AirPods Pro 4 will get it.
The rumored feature I find most intriguing is an interactive touch display in the AirPods Pro 3's charging case that acts as a remote control. With Apple filing a patent for it back in 2022, the rumor has been kicking around for a while, and several AirPods knockoffs with touchscreens have shown up on Amazon in recent months. Also, last year JBL released three new Live 3 earbuds, including the Live Beam 3, as a follow-up to 2023's Tour Pro 2 earbuds, which featured a color touchscreen in their case. All the new Live 3 models feature a 1.5-inch LED touch display in their charging cases, so the feature appears in competing earbuds.
I don't know what the odds are that the AirPods Pro 3 will get a charging case with a touchscreen, but some changes to the charging case are likely, with some saying the case may shrink a bit. If nothing else, the physical Bluetooth pairing and reset button should get swapped out for a hidden touch-capacitive "button" like the one found in the AirPods 4's case.
Given that Apple made two versions of the AirPods 4, I could see it making two versions of the AirPods Pro 3 -- a more premium model with some extra features like a touchscreen in the charging case and a step-down version that cuts them out.
The AirPods Pro 2, AirPods 4 and Powerbeats Pro 2 are all powered by Apple's H2 chip. Rumor has it that the AirPods Pro 3 could get the new H3 chip, presuming Apple sticks with its current earbuds/headphones chip nomenclature. Adding a more powerful, energy-efficient chip along with tweaks to the design of the buds' acoustic architecture and microphones could lead to several performance improvements, including enhanced sound quality, upgraded active noise canceling and better voice-calling performance. We could also see slightly better battery life.
I don't expect a huge jump in performance, but the AirPods Pro 3 could sound a little clearer with better bass definition than their predecessor. Their noise canceling may be more proficient and able to muffle a wider range of frequencies. Also, when it comes to voice calling, the buds will likely do an even better job of picking up your voice while reducing background noise.
The AirPods Pro 2 and Powerbeats Pro 2 are ultralow-latency and can even do lossless audio when paired with Apple's pricey Vision Pro headset. From what I've been told, the reason the AirPods Pro 2 and Powerbeats Pro 2 are able to do true lossless audio with the Vision Pro headset is that the buds and headset sit only a few inches apart, making for an extremely short wireless connection that can reliably transmit lossless audio. There's been talk of Apple coming up with a solution to bring lossless audio to next-gen AirPods when paired with your iPhone. I hope the AirPods Pro 3 has a lossless audio option when connected to the latest iPhones, iPads and Macs, but I'm not counting on it.
I don't care too much about some of these rumored extra features, like heart-rate monitoring and temperature sensing. I'm more excited about any enhancements to the buds' design and performance upgrades across the board.
I've previously written about how I'd like to see all new AirPods get a case that turns into a Bluetooth transmitter to wirelessly stream the audio from inflight entertainment to the buds. A few true wireless earbuds, including the Jabra Elite 8 Active Gen 2 and Elite 10 Gen 2, Bowers & Wilkins Pi7 S2 and Poly Voyager Free 60 Plus, have charging cases that act as Bluetooth transmitters. With the included cable, you simply connect the case to the 3.5mm port in your seat's console or armrest and you're good to go. I don't expect the AirPods Pro 3 will get this feature, but I sure wish they would.
I'd also like to see Apple add a set of extra large eartips. I barely get a tight seal with the AirPods Pro 2's current large tips and could really use an XL tip for my left ear, which is slightly different from my right (I have tested a variety of third-party foam tips). When Apple released the AirPods Pro 2, it added a fourth extra small ear tip for those with smaller ears. The challenge to adding a fifth XL tip is that the charging case would have to be able to accommodate a slightly larger ear tip. Since getting a tight seal is so important for optimizing sound quality and noise-canceling performance, it would behoove Apple to offer that fifth XL tip for those who require bigger eartips for that reason.
Read more: The One Feature I Wish Apple Would Add to All New AirPods
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
13 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Is Apple getting ready to launch a PlayStation and Xbox competitor?
The Apple TV is probably my favorite device that Apple makes. While the Apple TV app is in dire need of some basic improvements, the hardware box itself is a standout—especially compared to competitors like Amazon's Fire TV and Roku's streaming devices. This is largely thanks to the stellar Siri Remote, which makes navigating the device with your fingers or voice a cinch, and the powerful Apple silicon chip inside that makes the Apple TV's operating system, tvOS, run buttery smooth. Other countries are stepping up after Trump pulled the U.S. out of the climate fight Emotionally intelligent people use the 2-week rule to motivate themselves and reach their biggest goals Exclusive: Google is indexing ChatGPT conversations, potentially exposing sensitive user data However, when it comes to being a device meant to sit at the center of your living room as an all-encompassing entertainment hub, the Apple TV is lacking in one big department: gaming. The Apple TV is technically a gaming console, since it can play rudimentary games and supports third-party console controllers. But no one is likely to replace their PlayStation or Xbox with one any time soon, because the current Apple TV lacks the processing power to run console-quality games. Yet perhaps that could be changing. Recently, I've noticed that Apple has been making moves that suggest the company may be on the cusp of turning the Apple TV into a full-blown PlayStation and Xbox competitor. Doing so would open up another potential billion-dollar revenue stream for the company. The new Apple Games app is currently MIA from tvOS 26 At Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) this year, the company unveiled a new cross-device app called Apple Games. The app acts as a central hub and launcher for all the games you've ever bought on Apple's App Store or have access to via the company's Apple Arcade subscription service. The Apple Games app also gives you quick access to game events and challenges, and helps you discover new games to play and see what games your friends are playing. In other words, the new Apple Games app is similar to the PlayStation 5 Game Hub and the Xbox Dashboard—the interfaces on the consoles that significantly differentiate the living room gaming experience from PCs. Apple announced that Apple Games is coming to the iPhone, iPad, and Mac with iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26 this fall. But the new app is conspicuously absent from the Apple TV's next operating system, tvOS 26, which also ships this fall. This is a notable omission, especially considering that Apple markets its Apple Arcade gaming service as a core feature of the Apple TV experience. It also offers thousands of mobile-level games through the tvOS App Store. The more I think about the Apple Games omission from tvOS 26, the more it makes sense—if Apple is set to turn the Apple TV into a true gaming console but doesn't want anyone to know it yet. The next Apple TV is rumored to have two key hardware improvements essential to top-line gaming consoles Apple doesn't update the Apple TV as often as it does iPhones or even its iPads. Typically, years pass between Apple TV updates. The most recent Apple TV, the Apple TV 4K, was last updated in November 2022, nearly three years ago. That means it's ripe for an update this year. Rumors suggest that a new Apple TV is indeed coming later this year and that it will feature two significant hardware upgrades—ones that would enable it to become a true gaming console. The first is an updated chipset. The current Apple TV 4K features the Apple A15 Bionic chip, the same one found in the iPhone 13 from 2021. Most people expect the next Apple TV to get a significant upgrade—perhaps to the A18 or A18 Pro, found in the current iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro series, or perhaps even the unreleased A19 chip, which will go into this year's iPhone 17 series. It's also possible Apple could put the M1 or M2 chip, previously found in Macs and iPads, into the new Apple TV. This jump from the A15 to the A18, A19, M1, or M2 would give the Apple TV the performance boost it needs to run AAA console games, such as the Resident Evil series from Capcom, which are currently capable of running (with controller support, no less) on the iPhone 15 Pro, thanks to its A17 Pro chip. Another upgrade the next Apple TV is expected to get is a new Apple-designed Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chipset that will support the Wi-Fi 7 standard (via MacRumors). This standard offers lower latency and faster Wi-Fi speeds than the current Wi-Fi 6 standard—something critical for gaming consoles and the bandwidth-hungry games that stream to them. The leading games console, the PlayStation 5 Pro, currently offers Wi-Fi 7 support. In other words, the hardware components Apple needs to turn the next Apple TV into a PlayStation and Xbox competitor are all in the pipeline. And, increasingly, so is something else the Apple TV would need to become a true gaming console: increasing commitment to Apple's platforms from major games studios. More AAA games are hitting the Mac—and iPhone—than ever before In the video game industry, the top games are known as AAA (triple-A) titles. These are the games with the most advanced graphics and the biggest budgets, and are frequently the highlights of the console gaming experience. Historically, AAA game developers have shied away from releasing their major titles on the Mac (the Apple device with the hardware power most comparable to professional gaming consoles). But in the past year, that's changed a lot, thanks to Apple's move to make game development on the Mac easier and more cost-effective than ever, thanks to tools like the company's Game Porting Toolkit 3 and the hardware-accelerated graphics API, Metal 4, which makes graphics-intensive games look better on Mac and iPhone. Considering Apple devices are more popular than ever, game studios stand to financially benefit by bringing their biggest titles to Apple's platforms and their millions of users. In July alone, two major AAA titles made their debut on the Mac: CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate and Deep Silver's Dead Island 2. Other major AAA titles have also been released on the Mac over the past few years, including Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed: Shadows and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Remedy's Control Ultimate Edition, Kojima Productions' Death Stranding Director's Cut, Round 8 Studio's Lies of P, 11 Bit Studios' Frostpunk 2, and Capcom's Resident Evil series remastered editions. Additionally, more AAA titles are coming to the Mac this year, including IO Interactive's Hitman World of Assassination, InZOI Studio's InZOI, and Pearl Abyss' Crimson Desert. Most of these games require an M1 series chip or later, found in the company's Apple Silicon Macs released since 2020. Some, like the Resident Evil series, can even run on the A17 Pro and later, first introduced in 2023. Apple's current A18 Pro is roughly equivalent to the M1 in terms of performance, and if Apple puts it, the M1 or M2, or the upcoming A19 Pro, inside the next Apple TV, as expected, there is no reason these AAA games that currently run on the Mac couldn't run on the new Apple TV. And if that happens, the Apple TV becomes a professional-level gaming console. Turning the Apple TV into a gaming console makes sense for Apple's ecosystem and the company's bottom line When Apple announced the upcoming Apple Games app for all its devices except the Apple TV, it stood out as a glaring hole in the company's lineup, especially since Apple Games is a natural fit for the Apple TV. But when you take in the odd omission, along with recent rumors that the next Apple TV is set to get powerful new CPU and wireless chipsets, and the flood of new AAA titles hitting the Mac and iPhone this year, things start to look a lot clearer. Yet something else leads me to believe that Apple could be turning the Apple TV into a gaming console this year: the company's history of being unwilling to let software announcements spoil new hardware features. In the past, Apple has withheld software announcements at WWDC to avoid revealing upcoming hardware improvements to its devices. The AAA titles available on the Mac appear in Apple Games on the macOS 26 beta. If Apple had previewed Apple Games on the tvOS 26 beta, Mac games that run on the new unreleased Apple TV, including these AAA titles, might have also shown there. That would spoil a major, as-yet-unannounced feature for the as-yet-unannounced Apple TV. Of course, all this is just conjecture on my part. Still, all the signs seem to be pointing to Apple TV becoming a true gaming console. This would make a lot of business sense for Apple. At price points of $129 or $149, depending on whether you want more storage and an ethernet connection, the current Apple TV 4K is much more expensive than such competitors as the Roku Streaming Stick 4K ($49), the Roku Ultra ($99), and the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K ($49). However, if Apple gives the new Apple TV gaming console capabilities, the current $129/$149 price suddenly looks like a bargain. A triple-A gaming experience on the Apple TV would be a unique selling point that Roku or Amazon couldn't compete with. It could also give Apple a major new revenue stream in the form of 30% App Store commissions on AAA titles sold through the tvOS App Store. As of 2024, the global AAA gaming market is valued at approximately $75 billion annually, according to a July 2025 Business Research Insights report. It's expected to grow to nearly $108 billion by 2033. But most of all, a new Apple TV with console gaming capabilities would further solidify the device as the digital heart of the living room and smart home, giving users another reason to stay within Apple's ecosystem, both inside and outside the house—an ancillary benefit Apple likely finds invaluable. This post originally appeared at to get the Fast Company newsletter:
Tom's Guide
2 hours ago
- Tom's Guide
iOS 18.6 fixes 24 security flaws — update your iPhone right now
Most Apple users are thinking about iOS 26 right now, which makes sense, as it's the exciting new toy coming to devices around the world. However, while you're waiting, you should definitely not skip the recently released iOS 18.6, as it addresses a total of 24 critical security flaws that are essential for keeping your phone safe and secure, as outlined on Apple's support site. If you're under the impression that you can ignore this iOS version until the big release, it's time to reconsider that stance and update your phone. Some of these security fixes are minor, while others are much more significant. Either way, they're all worth downloading iOS 18.6 to your device. One fixed vulnerability could allow an app to access user-sensitive data. Another could cause a passcode to be read aloud by VoiceOver. There's even the potential for address bar spoofing — scary stuff. Here's the complete list of patched vulnerabilities, the systems impacted and the CVE code: There are some serious issues listed above, and given how easy it is to update your phone to the latest version of iOS, it's absolutely worth taking a little time to ensure you're protected from all the issues outlined above. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.
Business Upturn
2 hours ago
- Business Upturn
AAPL LEGAL ALERT: Lose Money on Your Apple Inc. Investment? Contact BFA Law by August 19 Class Action Deadline (NASDAQ:AAPL)
NEW YORK, Aug. 03, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Leading securities law firm Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP announces that a lawsuit has been filed against Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and certain of the Company's senior executives for potential violations of the federal securities laws. If you invested in Apple, you are encouraged to obtain additional information by visiting: Investors have until August 19, 2025, to ask the Court to be appointed to lead the case. The complaint asserts claims under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 on behalf of investors who purchased Apple securities. The case is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and is captioned Tucker v. Apple Inc., et al. , No. 5:25-cv-05197. Why was Apple Sued for Securities Fraud? Apple is a multinational technology company that engages primarily in the businesses of smart-devices and artificial intelligence ('AI'). Apple's software includes a digital personal assistant called 'Siri,' which was first introduced in October 2011. The complaint alleges that Apple misrepresented Siri's advanced AI-based features as well as its ability to deliver them within the iPhone 16 product cycle. In truth, as alleged, Apple lacked a functional prototype of Siri's purported advanced AI-based features and misrepresented the time it would take to integrate such features into its devices. The Stock Declines as the Truth is Revealed On March 7, 2025, Apple announced it was indefinitely delaying several AI-based Siri features, citing development delays and pushing their release to sometime 'in the coming year.' On this news, the price of Apple stock declined $11.59 per share, or almost 5%, from $239.07 per share on March 7, 2025, to $227.48 per share on March 10, 2025, the following trading day. Then, on June 9, 2025, Apple hosted its Worldwide Developer Conference for 2025. Noticeably, Apple failed to announce any new updates regarding advanced Siri features. Analysts and media outlets described the WWDC as 'underwhelming' and 'disappointing,' with CNN stating that 'it's unlikely that any of the announcements made at Monday's event will change the perception that Apple is behind its competitors in AI.' On this news, the price of Apple stock declined $2.47 per share, or over 1%, from $203.92 on June 6, 2025, to $201.45 per share on June 9, 2025, the following trading day. Click here for more information: What Can You Do? If you invested in Apple you may have legal options and are encouraged to submit your information to the firm. All representation is on a contingency fee basis, there is no cost to you. Shareholders are not responsible for any court costs or expenses of litigation. The firm will seek court approval for any potential fees and expenses. Submit your information by visiting: Or contact:Ross Shikowitz [email protected] 212.789.3619
