Technologies

AirPods Pro 3 Coming in September? Here’s Everything We Know

Industry analysts are predicting Apple will announce its new AirPods Pro 3 noise-canceling earbuds at its iPhone 17 launch event. Here’s all their rumored improvements, plus one key feature I’d like to see.

Recent reports suggest we probably won’t see a new version of the AirPods Max this year, but many folks are predicting we will see the AirPods Pro 3 at Apple’s iPhone 17 launch event this fall. Apple last updated its flagship AirPods Pro buds in 2022 and released two all-new versions of Apple’s open earbuds — the AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with Active Noise Canceling — at last year’s iPhone 16 event. While there’s no guarantee we’ll get the AirPods Pro 3 this year, Apple has announced a new model of AirPods every year since 2019 (I’m counting 2023’s AirPods Pro 2 with USB-C as a new model), and the Pro line is due for an upgrade. Here are the latest AirPods Pro 3 rumors and what improvements I’d like to see for Apple’s flagship noise-canceling earbuds.

Read more: Everything We Expect to Be Announced at Apple’s iPhone 17 September Launch Event

Rumored AirPods Pro 3 release date

Back in February MacRumors 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. The «tip» seemed pretty dubious, and sure enough, it was. Now it’s become clear that the more likely scenario is that the AirPods Pro 3 will arrive at the same time as the iPhone 17 in September. That’s when Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who’s usually a more reliable Apple whisperer, predicts they’ll be announced. He’s also said the AirPods Pro 3 will have a new design and feature heart-rate monitoring like Apple’s new Beats Powerbeats Pro 2.

Read more: Best wireless earbuds of 2025

More recently MacRumors contributor Steve Moser dug into iOS 26 Beta 1 and discovered that its underlying code references AirPods Pro 3 alongside existing AirPods models. «AirPods Pro 3 must be coming soon,» Moser posted on X. «Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any other references or hints as to what new features they might have.»

That said, on June 9 at WWDC 2025, Apple did announce some new features for the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) that will officially launch this fall but are available to try now for beta testers if you have a developer’s account (public betas are coming soon). These new features include studio-quality audio recording and camera remote features.

Studio-quality audio recording: Apple says that «interviewers, podcasters, singers, and other creators can record their content with greater sound quality, and even record while on the go or in noisy environments with Voice Isolation.»
Leveraging its powerful H2 chip, Apple is also upgrading voice-calling performance: «User will also enjoy more natural vocal texture and clarity across iPhone calls, FaceTime, and CallKit-enabled apps,» it says.
The new Camera Remote feature allows you to «start or stop video recordings from a distance with a simple press of the AirPods stem.»
AirPods models with the H2 chip will also be able to detect when you fall asleep and automatically pause what you’re listening to.

To reiterate, the AirPods Pro 3 are likely to be unveiled this September, but you can always find naysayers. MacRumors recently reported that Jeff Pu of GF Securities Hong Kong thinks the AirPods Pro 3 may not arrive until 2026, forecasting they’ll launch alongside the Apple Watch Series 12 and a refreshed Vision Pro. Industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also predicted the AirPods may not see significant updates until 2026 and claimed that Apple would release a lighter AirPods Max in 2027.

According to AppleTrack, Ming-Chi Kuo has pretty good track record, with a 72.5% accuracy rating over 142 rumors posts.

Will Trump tariffs affect the AirPods Pro 3?

What impact the Trump tariffs will have on Apple products, including AirPods, isn’t totally clear at this point.

There’s been plenty of chatter about Apple being hurt by high tariffs on goods made in China, but it turns out a certain percentage of AirPods are made in India and Vietnam. Word was that Apple would potentially shift more of its production of the AirPods Pro 3 to those countries, but the Trump administration’s recent trade deal with Vietnam could mean that Apple will have to pay a 20% important tariff on goods made in Vietnam, according to Apple Insider. (Remember that tariffs are paid on the wholesale price of imported goods, not the retail price).

While we’ve seen approximately 10% price hikes on recently released premium headphones like Sony’s WH-1000XM6 (made in Malaysia) and Bowers & Wilkins’ PX7 S3, Apple is under some pressure from cost-effective brands and lower cost earbuds, which have eaten into its share of the earbuds market in recent years. If Apple hopes to retain or grow its market share, it probably has to keep the AirPods Pro 3’s list price at $250. That’s what the AirPods Pro have always cost, though discounts at Amazon and other online retailers typically bring the price down to less than $200 and sometimes less than $180.

The tariff situation remains fluid, so we could see new products delayed or released in other parts of the world other than the U.S. In the past, the U.S. typically had the best prices for iPhones and other Apple products, but that could change.

Read more: What makes cheap earbuds a real value? How I find the hidden gems

New temperature and heart-rate sensors

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.

AirPods case with touch screen display

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 possible, with some saying the case may shrink a bit (I kind of doubt that, however). 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.

Two versions of the AirPods Pro 3?

Since 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 without them.

The odds of this happening seem pretty low, but there a several high-end earbuds, including the Bowers & Wilkins Pi8 earbuds ($400), that list for over $350, so it wouldn’t be shocking if Apple put a flagship model at an even higher price point after selling so many AirPods Max headphones at $549 (or $480 on Amazon). In the case of the AirPods 4, Apple was trying to hit a lower price point for its entry-level buds, so it made more sense that it made two models of those earbuds. It is hard to imagine the list price for the AirPods Pro 3 being less than $250.

Improved AirPods Pro 3 performance with H3 chip

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 (and Bluetooth 5.4), 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 will likely be noticeably 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. And finally, I suspect Apple’s Hearing Aid feature will be enhanced.

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.

Live translation feature for AirPods Pro 3 (and maybe AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4)

Lately I’ve encountered several no-name Chinese earbuds on Amazon with live translation features, so it wasn’t a huge surprise when Bloomberg recently reported that the AirPods Pro 3 may be adding live translation via Apple’s Translate app with the release of iOS 19 this fall. The iOS Translate app already has fairly robust translation capabilities, but the report talks about how Apple plans to simplify the translation experience with the feature built into its earbuds, as well improve the iOS Translation app. (For those who can’t access Bloomberg’s content behind its paywall, MacRumors has a synopsis of the report).

Since this is more of an iPhone/iOS 19 feature, with the translation of what you say played through your iPhone’s speakers for others to hear, live translation seems pretty likely to come to the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4, both of which are equipped with Apple’s H2 chip and have plenty of processing power. Beats Powerbeats Pro 2 might also get the live translation feature.

New U2 chip in the charging case

Along with the AirPods 3 getting a new H3 chip to power the earbuds themselves, some people are predicting that Apple will equip the AirPods 3’s MagSafe charging case with a new U2 chip (the AirPods Pro 2 have a U1 chip). That chip would help enhance the precision of Apple’s Find My feature that allows you to locate both the buds and case when you misplace them. Because they have a U1 chip in their case, the AirPods Pro 2 are equipped with Apple’s most advanced version of Find My. The two AirPods 4 models leave off the U1 chip in their cases so they don’t support precision finding.

My AirPods Pro 3 wishlist: Better sound quality and one key feature

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

Technologies

Google races to put Gemini at the center of Android before Apple’s AI reboot

Google is using its latest Android rollout to position Gemini as the AI layer across phones, Chrome, laptops and cars.

Google is using its latest Android rollout to make Gemini less of a chatbot and more of an operating layer across the phone, browser, car and laptop, just weeks before Apple is expected to show its own Gemini-powered Apple Intelligence reboot at WWDC.
Ahead of its Google I/O developer conference next week, the company previewed a number of Android updates, including AI-powered app automation, a smarter version of Chrome on Android, new tools for creators, a redesigned Android Auto experience, and a sweeping set of new security features.
Alphabet is counting on Gemini to help Google compete directly with OpenAI and Anthropic in the market for artificial intelligence models and services, while also serving as the AI backbone across its expansive portfolio of products, including Android. Meanwhile, Gemini is powering part of Apple’s new AI strategy, giving Google a role in the iPhone maker’s reset even as it races to prove its own version of personal AI on the phone is further along.
Sameer Samat, who oversees Google’s Android ecosystem, told CNBC that Google is rebuilding parts of Android around Gemini Intelligence to help users complete everyday tasks more easily.
“We’re transitioning from an operating system to an intelligence system,” he said.
As part of Tuesday’s announcements. Google said Gemini Intelligence will be able to move across apps, understand what’s on the screen and complete tasks that would normally require a user to jump between multiple services. That means Android is moving beyond the traditional assistant model, where users ask a question and get an answer, and acting more like an agent.
For instance, Google says Gemini can pull relevant information from Gmail, build shopping carts and book reservations. Samat gave the example of asking Gemini to look at the guest list for a barbecue, build a menu, add ingredients to an Instacart list and return for approval before checkout.
A big concern surrounding agentic AI involves software taking action on a user’s behalf without permissions. Samat said Gemini will come back to the user before completing a transaction, adding, “the human is always in the loop.”
Four months after announcing its Gemini deal with Google, Apple is under pressure to show a more capable version of Apple Intelligence, which has been a relative laggard on the market. Apple has long framed privacy, hardware integration and control of the user experience as its advantages.
Google’s Android push is designed to show it can bring AI deeper into the device experience while still giving users control over what Gemini can see, where it can act and when it needs confirmation.
The app automation features will roll out in waves, starting with the latest Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel phones this summer, before expanding across more Android devices, including watches, cars, glasses and laptops later this year.
The company is also redesigning Android Auto around Gemini, turning the car into another major surface for its assistant. Android Auto is in more than 250 million cars, and Google says the new release includes its biggest maps update in a decade and Gemini-powered help with tasks like ordering dinner while driving.
Alphabet’s AI strategy has been embraced by Wall Street, which has pushed the company’s stock price up more than 140% in the past year, compared to Apple’s roughly 40% gain. Investors now want to see how Gemini can become more central to the products people use every day.
WATCH: Alphabet briefly tops Nvidia after report of $200 billion Anthropic cloud deal

Technologies

Waymo recalls 3,800 robotaxis after glitch allowed some vehicles to ‘drive into standing water’

Waymo issued a voluntary recall of about 3,800 of its robotaxis to fix software issues that could allow them to drive into flooded roadways.

Waymo is recalling about 3,800 robotaxis in the U.S. to fix software issues that could allow them to “drive onto a flooded roadway,” according to a letter on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website.
The voluntary recall is for Waymo vehicles that use the company’s fifth and sixth generation automated driving systems (or ADS), the U.S. auto safety regulator said in the letter posted Tuesday.
Waymo autonomous vehicles in Austin, Texas, were seen on camera driving onto a flooded street and stalling, requiring other drivers to navigate around them. It’s the latest example of a safety-related issue for the Alphabet-owned AV unit that’s rapidly bolstering its fleet of vehicles and entering new U.S. markets.
Waymo has drawn criticism for its vehicles failing to yield to school buses in Austin, and for the performance of its vehicles during widespread power outages in San Francisco in December, when robotaxis halted in traffic, causing gridlock.
The company said in a statement on Tuesday that it’s “identified an area of improvement regarding untraversable flooded lanes specific to higher-speed roadways,” and opted to file a “voluntary software recall” with the NHTSA.
“Waymo provides over half a million trips every week in some of the most challenging driving environments across the U.S., and safety is our primary priority,” the company said.
Waymo added that it’s working on “additional software safeguards” and has put “mitigations” in place, limiting where its robotaxis operate during extreme weather, so that they avoid “areas where flash flooding might occur” in periods of intense rain.
WATCH: Waymo launches new autonomous system in Chinese-made vehicle

Technologies

Qualcomm tumbles 13% as semiconductor stocks retreat from historic AI-fueled surge

Semiconductor equities reversed sharply after a broad AI-driven advance, with Qualcomm suffering its worst day since 2020 amid inflation concerns and rising oil prices.

Semiconductor stocks fell sharply on Tuesday, reversing course after an extensive rally that had expanded the artificial intelligence investment theme well past Nvidia and driven the industry to unprecedented levels.

Qualcomm plunged 13% and was on track for its steepest single-day decline since 2020. Intel shed 8%, while On Semiconductor and Skyworks Solutions each lost more than 6%. The iShares Semiconductor ETF, which benchmarks the overall sector, fell 5%.

The sell-off came after a key gauge of consumer prices came in above forecasts, and as conflict in Iran pushed crude oil higher—prompting investors to shift away from riskier assets.

The preceding advance had widened the AI opportunity set beyond longtime industry leader Nvidia, which for much of the past several years had largely carried the market to new peaks on its own.

Explosive appetite for central processing units, along with the graphics processing units that power large language models, has sent chipmakers to all-time highs.

Market participants are wagering that the shift from AI model training to autonomous agents will lift demand for additional AI hardware. Among the beneficiaries are memory chip producers, which are raising prices as supply remains tight.

Micron Technology slid 6%, and Sandisk cratered 8%. Sandisk’s stock has surged more than six times over since January.