So far, Apple’s third-generation flagship earbuds have been rumored to arrive next year. But according to industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, they could be revealed as early as next week at Apple’s big Fall launch event that will be headlined by the iPhone 17 series.
What’s the latest on AirPods Pro 3?
According to Kuo, the AirPods Pro 3 will be revealed in 2H25, aka the second half of 2025. The most likely candidate for the launch is the iPhone 17 event next week. However, Apple is reportedly eyeing the launch of fresh Mac hardware with the new M5 silicon in October, so there’s a possibility of a slight delay.
As far as the changes go, the AirPods Pro 3 will likely keep the same fundamental design language. On the inside, they will reportedly come equipped with the new H3 audio chip that should bring some improvements to the raw audio quality. The physical button in the case will likely be removed, as well, paving the way for an invisible capacitive button similar to the AirPods 4.
Some reports also suggest that the charging case will be slightly smaller, though it’s not clear if that will affect the size of the battery fitted inside the charging kit. The chip could possibly be more energy efficient, so we can expect some gains in per-charge mileage for the earbuds.
The big upgrade(s) might have to wait
So far, reliable sources such as Kuo and Bloomberg have predicted the addition of new sensors aboard the AirPods Pro. Among them is the deployment of a camera sensor, which would seemingly be deployed to offer health and wellness benefits.
For example, a camera sensor could assist with fall detection. Additionally, with the deployment of multi-modal AI processing with a paired iPhone, the earbuds’ camera could help users make sense of the world around them. If that sounds familiar, well, that’s because a similar feature called Visual Intelligence is already available on iPhones.
“There’s also engineering work being done on adding sensors to the AirPods so they can determine body temperature via a wearer’s ear canal,” reports Bloomberg. Kuo, however, adds that the AirPods Pro model with these sensors will only land on the shelves next year. But these are all early predictions, so process them with the proverbial pinch of salt.
