Huge overhaul for Apple AirPods Pro 3 with heart rate sensing, better ANC and a cheaper price

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The iPhones steal all the big headlines at Apple’s big September launch event – and for good reason – but do spare a thought for the AirPods Pro 3, which represent a huge overhaul to a product that hasn’t seen a significant one for years. Apple added USB-C to the charging case in 2023 but the fundamental design hasn’t altered for three years.

We’re still fans of Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 here at Expert Reviews, but on most counts they’re outgunned by rivals from Bose and Sony these days. For the AirPods 3, however, it’s all change.

Apple AirPods Pro 3 specifications

• Redesigned shape for more effective and stabler fit
• Improved foam-infused ear tips for better sound isolation
• Improved sound and ANC quality
• Heart rate monitoring via optical sensors in each earbud
• Live translation feature
• IP57 dust and water resistance
• Price: £219
• Availability: Pre-orders available from 10 September, shipping from 19 September 2025

Design and new features

First up, Apple has made a number of changes to the physical design of its premium true wireless earbuds. The shape has been tweaked so the fit is more stable, so they should be better for working out with than before and there’s now IP57 dust and water resistance, too, improving durability.

The tips are now foam infused, improving sound isolation and bass response, and Apple is claiming vastly improved active noise cancellation, too. It’s twice as effective as it is in the AirPods Pro 2 and four times as effective as the ANC in the original AirPods Pro.

Apple hasn’t stopped there, however, adding extra health focussed features to the new earphones. We were given a sneak peak of this last year, when Apple introduced hearing aid features via a software update to its AirPods Pro 2. This year, that feature remains, but Apple has added to it with heart rate sensing, boosting the usefulness of the headphones as a health and fitness device.

The features work via a pair of optical sensors built into each earbud right next to the eartip, and it’s designed to work with the iPhone’s Fitness app and third party apps as well.

The final new feature is one Apple fans have been asking for years for: live translation. If you enable this feature, you can get live translation of what people who are talking to you are saying via audio – as well as what you say back to them, by displaying the translation on the screen of your iPhone. And if you both are wearing AirPods 3 headphones, you’ll get live audio translation both ways.

All good stuff. Crucially, though, Apple has not increased the price of the headphones this year. In fact the AirPods Pro 3 are set to be cheaper than the AirPods Pro 2 they replace, with a pair set to cost a mere £219. With Sony in particular raising its prices this year, that could give Apple’s new headphones a crucial edge.

The Apple AirPods 3 will be available to preorder from today and they will be available in shops from 19 September.

Written By

Jonathan Bray

Head of reviews at Expert Reviews, Jon has been testing and writing about products since before most of you were born (well, only if you were born after 1996). In that time he’s tested and reviewed hundreds of laptops, PCs, smartphones, vacuum cleaners, coffee machines, doorbells, cameras and more. He’s worked on websites since the early days of tech, writing game reviews for AOL and hardware reviews for PC Pro, Computer Buyer and other print publications. He’s also had work published in Trusted Reviews, Computing Which? and The Observer. And yet, even after so many years in the industry, there’s still nothing more he loves than getting to grips with a new product and putting it through its paces.

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