A friend of mine recently asked me what the best AirPods were, and I told him the AirPods Pro 3. I said they had the best sound quality and noise canceling. When I spoke to him a few days later, I was surprised to hear that he’d bought the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation. In fact, he’d bought one pair for himself and another for his son. I asked him why.

It mostly came down to price, he said. The AirPods 4 with ANC are available at a deeper discount, currently listed on Amazon for $100, which is $79 less than their original list price of $179. While the AirPods Pro 3 have also been available at discounted prices, dropping to as low as $200 ahead of Black Friday, that’s still $100 more than what the AirPods 4 with ANC cost. He wasn’t willing to pay that much and didn’t mind that the AirPods 4 have an open design. In fact, he liked that they did. «I basically got two pairs of AirPods for the price of one,» he said.

I understood where he was coming from, so I didn’t make him second-guess his decision. But I thought it’d be a good idea to offer some detailed comparisons of the 2025 AirPods Pro 3 versus the 2024 AirPods 4 (including that earlier model’s entry-level standard version (currently $80), which leaves off noise-canceling and wireless charging. That way, you can make the right decision if you’re considering buying any of them when they get marked down for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.       

Read more: Are the AirPods Pro 3 Steve Jobs’ Ultimate Audio Legacy?

AirPods Pro 3 vs. AirPods 4: What’s similar

• The AirPods Pro 3 and both AirPods 4 models (with and without ANC) are powered by Apple’s H2 chip. 
• The AirPods Pro 3 and AirPods 4 models are equipped with Bluetooth 5.3, just like the AirPods Pro 2 (though some true-wireless earbuds have already jumped to Bluetooth 6.0).
• The AirPods Pro 3 and AirPods 4 with ANC both have a MagSafe charging case with USB-C and wireless charging. Note that the entry-level AirPods 4 do not support wireless charging. None of the three models come with a USB-C charging cable.
• The AirPods Pro 3 and both versions of the AirPods 4 (with and without ANC) support Apple’s new Live Translation feature. They also all feature Apple Personalized spatial audio with head-tracking.
• The AirPods Pro 3 and both versions of the AirPods 4 (with and without ANC) have always-on Siri and automatic switching between Apple devices on your iCloud account.
• The AirPods Pro 3 and AirPods 4 with ANC share very similar sets of features, even beyond active noise canceling. Adaptive Audio, which adjusts the level of noise canceling on the fly, and Conversation Awareness mode, which lowers the volume of your music and engages transparency mode, are available on both the AirPods Pro 3 and AirPods 4 with ANC. Note that the entry-level AirPods 4 don’t include those features because they lack noise canceling and a transparency mode.    

AirPods Pro 3 vs. AirPods 4: What’s different

• While they look similar from the outside, the AirPods Pro 3 and AirPods 4 fit differently. The AirPods Pro 3 feature a foam-infused noise-isolating design with silicon eartips in five sizes — extra-extra small, extra small, small, medium and large. The silicon eartips are designed to seal off your ear canal, while the AirPods 4 have an open design with no eartips. 
• The AirPods Pro 3 weigh more per bud (5.55 grams) compared to the AirPods 4 (4.3 grams).
• The AirPods Pro 4 with ANC’s case is smaller and lighter than the AirPods Pro 3’s case (34.7 grams vs. 43.99 grams).
• The AirPods Pro 3 have 3 microphones per earbud, while the AirPods 4 have two per bud. However, both offer very good voice-calling performance.
• The AirPods Pro 3 are equipped with heart-rate sensors, similar to those found in the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2. The AirPods 4 do not have heart-rate sensors.
• The AirPods Pro 3 have significantly better noise cancellation than the AirPods 4 with ANC (up to 4x better, according to Apple).
• The AirPods Pro 3 support Apple’s Hearing Aid feature, while the AirPods 4 don’t.
• While both models are dust-resistant, the AirPods Pro 3 and their charging case have an IP57 rating, which means they can be submerged in water up to 1 meter deep for 30 minutes. The AirPods 4 are IP54 splash-proof.
• The AirPods Pro 3’s battery life is better (up to 8 hours with noise-canceling on, compared to up to 5 hours for the AirPods 4 with ANC). 
• The AirPods Pro 3’s case features a U2 chip, which boosts the Precision Finding range in the Find My app by 1.5x (requires an iPhone 17). The AirPods 4 with ANC’s case is equipped with the U1 chip, which supports Precision Finding. In contrast, the standard AirPods 4’s case lacks the U1 chip and supports a less advanced version of Find My.
• The cases for both the AirPods Pro 3 and AirPods 4 no longer have a button for Bluetooth pairing. You simply double-tap on the front of the case to put the buds into Bluetooth pairing mode. 
• You can see a full feature comparison of the AirPods Pro 3 and AirPods 4 with ANC here.

AirPods Pro 3 and AirPods 4 fit differently

While the AirPods Pro 3 and AirPods 4 look similar at first glance, they do feel different in your ears. Some people simply don’t like having eartips jammed in their ears and prefer the open design of the AirPods 4, which allows them to nestle in more comfortably. However, more people seem to have issues getting a secure fit with Apple’s standard AirPods compared to the Pro models.

The original AirPods and AirPods 2 had a smaller design that fit certain ears very well, though they weren’t a great match for my ears (they would slip out a little too easily). Apple moved to a slightly bigger bud for the AirPods 3, improving their sound, but the new design didn’t quite work as well as for some AirPods 2 users.

Read more: Best Wireless Earbuds of 2025

The AirPods 4 are slightly smaller than the AirPods 3 and have a slightly different shape. They fit my ears pretty well, but I still get a more secure fit from the AirPods Pro 3, with redesigned eartips that seem to offer a snugger, more secure fit for more people (the good thing about eartips is they come in different sizes, so if one doesn’t get you a tight seal, you can try another).

Ultimately, if you prefer the way the AirPods 4 fit your ears compared to the AirPods Pro 3, it makes your decision easier. The same is true if the AirPods Pro 3 fit better. Things get more complicated if you like the way both fit. Then you’ll have to weigh the importance of sound quality and noise-canceling performance.           

AirPods 4 open earbuds have very good sound, but AirPods Pro 3 are significantly better

The sound quality of open earbuds has improved substantially over the last several years, and the leap in sound quality from the original AirPods and AirPods 2 to the AirPods 4 is quite significant. Apple has managed to really step up the bass performance, which often suffers with an open design, and the AirPods 4 offer quite respectable sound (and that sound has a nice openness to it, given that these are open earbuds, after all).

However, thanks to their noise-isolating design, the AirPods Pro 3 sound fuller and more dynamic, with more powerful bass. Also, because the AirPods 4’s open design allows ambient sound to leak into your ears, if you’re listening to them in noisy environments, the sound quality is impacted, particularly for the entry-level AirPods 4, which have no ANC. It’s also worth noting that while Apple has done a remarkable job creating open earbuds with effective noise canceling, it’s not entirely effective and can only muffle so much ambient noise.     

Noise-canceling comparison: AirPods Pro 3 vs. AirPods 4 with ANC

Apple says the AirPods 4 with ANC offer similar noise canceling to the original AirPods Pro. According to Apple, the AirPods Pro 2 offer twice the noise canceling of the original AirPods Pro, and the AirPods Pro 3 provide twice the noise canceling of the AirPods Pro 2. That would mean the AirPods Pro 3 have 4x better noise-canceling performance than the AirPods 4 with ANC.  

I should note that some of that superior noise-canceling performance is related to the passive noise isolation you get from the AirPods Pro 3’s eartips sealing off your ear canal. Any way you look at it, the AirPods Pro 3 have some of the best noise cancellation available right now. In my review, I pitted them against Bose’s $299 QuietComfort Earbuds (2nd gen), which were released a few weeks before the AirPods Pro 3 in the US. Many reviewers said they had the best noise cancelling, and I felt that way, too, until I tried the AirPods Pro 3. Then, I wasn’t so sure. 

I didn’t feel I could declare one better than the other without running my own lab tests on a rather expensive rig that CNET doesn’t own, but I was quite impressed with the AirPods Pro 3. Compared to the noise-canceling capacity on the AirPods Pro 2, I could definitely hear the difference when I used the buds on a plane, in the noisy streets of New York and underground in the subway.  

Read more: AirPods Pro 3 vs. AirPods Pro 2 — should you upgrade?

Do you really need the AirPods Pro 3’s heart-rate monitoring?

I personally don’t feel that heart-rate monitoring is a must-have feature, particularly if you already own a smartwatch with the feature. But for some folks, it will be a welcome addition. 

The heart-rate sensors have been custom-designed for the AirPods Pro 3 (Apple’s smallest heart-rate sensors) and aren’t identical to the ones in the Powerbeats Pro 2. But the experience using the heart-rate monitoring feature remains the same.

There may be more to come, as Apple has a habit of leaving off a few tricks when it first launches products (remember that the AirPods Pro 2 didn’t have spatial audio when they launched). I tend to think we’re not done hearing about the heart-rate sensor and future health applications for the buds.

How about voice-calling performance?

One could argue that the AirPods Pro 3 have slightly better voice-calling performance, but the truth is, both the AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 3 offer excellent voice-calling performance with good background noise reduction while picking up your voice clearly. That said, in noisy environments, the superior noise canceling of the AirPods Pro 3 does help, allowing you to hear callers more clearly.   

Should I get the AirPods 4 or AirPods 4 with ANC?

If you’re looking to spend as little money as possible for a set of AirPods, the entry-level AirPods 4 are selling for all-time low prices this holiday buying season and are very good open earbuds for Apple users with support for automatic switching between Apple devices and features like spatial audio with head-tracking and Live Translation. However, I try to steer folks toward the AirPods 4 with ANC because they’re clearly more special and don’t cost significantly more than the standard AirPods 4. 

Can’t decide between the AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 3?

If you can’t decide, you can wait for the next-generation AirPods to be released. Reports suggest that Apple is working on both the AirPods 5, which feature an open design, and the next-gen AirPods Pro, with rumors suggesting they may get infrared cameras for gesture controls and an upgraded H3 chip. 

Based on past AirPods product cycles, the AirPods Pro 4 should be two years away (2027) while the standard AirPods (the AirPods 5) should be slated to come out next year. But word has it that the next AirPods Pro, whatever they’re called, may arrive as soon as next year (2026) and may be an even more impressive upgrade than what we got moving from the AirPods Pro 2 to the AirPods Pro 3. 

Disappointingly, I’m hearing that the AirPods Max over-ear headphones won’t get an upgrade next year, and we may not get a true next-gen version of the AirPods Max for a few years. Released in 2020, the pricey AirPods Max are only equipped with Apple’s H1 chip and are really due for an upgrade. But Apple seems more focused on the development of its AirPods earbuds rather than its full-size headphones.

Read more: Apple Reportedly May Add Infrared Cameras to Its Next AirPods Pro

AirPods Pro 2 vs. AirPods Pro 3 vs. AirPods 4 with ANC spec comparison