Apple put active noise cancellation on the $149 AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case last month, and the price gap with the year-old AirPods Pro 3, priced at $179 (was $249) for early Prime Day, suddenly looked harder to defend. Shoppers who only wanted a little quiet on a train now have a cheaper open-ear option. People who sit with both pairs still reach for the Pro 3 when the room gets loud.
Foam-tipped silicone ear tips in five sizes, including an extra small size, seal the canal before you even begin listening, and nothing surpasses that physical seal, which the new open-ear AirPods 5 simply cannot match, no matter how many microphones are crammed onto the stem. Apple claims that the Pro 3 offers up to three times the quiet time of the regular model and twice that of last year’s Pro 2. That means sounds like the cabin hum, the air conditioning in the office, and that obnoxious voice from two seats over fade into the background. The Transparency setting still allows speech to be heard cleanly and crisply, without the hollow echo that earlier tips had.
- WORLD’S BEST IN-EAR ACTIVE NOISE CANCELLATION — Removes up to 2x more unwanted noise than AirPods Pro 2* so you can stay fully immersed in the...
- BREAKTHROUGH AUDIO PERFORMANCE — Experience breathtaking, three-dimensional audio with AirPods Pro 3. A new acoustic architecture delivers...
- HEART RATE SENSING — Built-in heart rate sensing lets you track your heart rate and calories burned for up to 50 different workout types.* With...
With noise cancellation enabled on, a single charge will last up to eight hours, compared to four for the basic AirPods 5 and five for the wireless case AirPods. A full day of mixed listening typically gives you with some charge left over, and the case itself will extend the total to around 24 hours. Five minutes on the charger can recharge you for about an hour.
The hearing aid functions were missing from the previous AirPods, but they’re back in the Pro 3, and they’re incredibly important. Each Pro 3 bud contains a custom sensor that uses invisible light to pulse 256 times per second to read your heart rate during more than 50 different workout types in the Fitness app, all without the need for an Apple Watch on your wrist, and Hearing Protection kicks in to reduce sudden loud noise. Plus, when needed, Live Translation can be accessed by squeezing both stems, in supported languages. None of this is available with the less expensive bud.
Both lines, of course, share the H2 chip, Adaptive Audio, customized Spatial Audio with head tracking, and voice separation during calls. The Pro 3 case also has some great details, such as magnetic charging from the MagSafe case, a Find My speaker, a second generation ultra wideband chip that aids in accurate location tracking on a compatible iPhone, and a strap loop. The buds and casing are both water and dust resistant, with an IP57 rating. Of course, you can still regulate the volume with a swipe on the stem.
