Apple has officially unveiled the AirPods Pro 3, coming three years after the AirPods Pro 2. The new model introduces upgrades that go beyond sound, including heart rate tracking, improved Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), and longer battery life.
Malaysia Availability and Pricing
In Malaysia, the AirPods Pro 3 are priced at RM999, which is notably lower than the AirPods Pro 2’s launch price of RM1,099 in 2022. Customers in the U.S. and more than 50 other countries can already pre-order the earbuds, with general availability beginning September 19, 2025.
While Apple Malaysia has not confirmed the local release date, the official pricing is already listed.
What’s New with Apple AirPods Pro 3
Apple claims the AirPods Pro 3 deliver the world’s best in-ear ANC, capable of blocking up to twice as much noise as the AirPods Pro 2 and four times more than the original AirPods Pro. The company even went so far as to say the new earbuds deliver “over-the-ear headphone performance in a pocket-sized design.” While that’s a bold claim, whether it can truly rival premium over-ear headphones will need to be tested in real-world use.
Still, there are notable upgrades. A new acoustic architecture paired with foam-infused ear tips, ultra-low noise microphones, and computational audio is designed to widen the soundstage, enhance bass, and bring more clarity to vocals. Transparency mode has also been refined so voices sound more natural.
Battery performance has been extended, with up to eight hours of playback with ANC and up to 10 hours in Transparency mode, a 67% boost over AirPods Pro 2. Apple specifically notes that this longer Transparency time will benefit hearing aid users who rely on features like Conversation Boost, which is now automatic in noisy environments.
Fitness Integration
For the first time, AirPods can now track workouts with a built-in heart rate sensor, which is Apple’s smallest yet. It uses a photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor that shines invisible infrared light pulsed at 256 times per second to measure blood flow, with algorithms combining data from accelerometers, a gyroscope, GPS, and iPhone‘s on-device AI.
Apple says these models were trained on 50 million hours of workout data collected through its Heart and Movement Study, involving over 250,000 participants, making AirPods Pro 3’s heart rate tracking one of the most data-backed fitness features the company has released.
The earbuds can track more than 50 workout types directly in the Fitness app, while new APIs allow developers such as Ladder to build AirPods-based workout metrics into their apps. The experience also introduces Workout Buddy, powered by Apple Intelligence, which provides real-time motivational feedback.
The earbuds are also rated IP57, making them sweat, water, and dust resistant, the first AirPods to carry this level of durability.
Live Translation
AirPods Pro 3 also bring Live Translation, powered by on-device Apple Intelligence. In a demo, Apple showed how the feature can translate phrases during conversations, with translations displayed on iPhone and even read aloud when needed. Interestingly, ANC will automatically lower the person’s volume during translation, making it easier to focus on the audio.
If both people are wearing AirPods Pro, the experience is even smoother as translations are delivered directly into each person’s earbuds, eliminating the need to rely on an iPhone screen or spoken playback. This allows for more natural, hands-free conversations.
The feature currently supports English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish, with more languages like Japanese, Korean, Italian, and Chinese (simplified) coming later this year.
Fit and Comfort
Apple says it studied more than 10,000 ear scans and 100,000 hours of research to refine the design of AirPods Pro 3. Each earbud is smaller and shaped to better match the geometry of the ear canal, with five ear tip sizes, including a new XXS option.
Sustainability Efforts
In line with Apple’s environmental goals, the AirPods Pro 3 are manufactured using 40% recycled content, including 100% recycled cobalt in the battery and 65% recycled plastic in the case. The earbuds are produced with 40% renewable electricity across Apple’s supply chain, and the packaging is entirely fibre-based.
A Promising Upgrade, With Questions
On paper, the AirPods Pro 3 look like a substantial leap forward, offering better ANC, fitness tracking, real-time translation, and longer battery life. But Apple’s marketing language, from “you’ll have the world’s best active noise cancellation of any in-ear wireless headphones” to “over-the-ear performance in your pocket”, will raise eyebrows.
Competing earbuds from Sony, Bose, and Samsung have also set high standards in recent years, and whether Apple can back up its superlatives will only be clear after real-world testing.
