Apple seems to be throwing lots of toys at their best-selling AirPods, which makes me wonder what they ultimately have in mind for them

A lot is promised for AirPods Pro 3 – and if it all comes to bear, then they will have taken an already stunning pair of earbuds and have swept them to an entirely new level.

Outside of my iPhone, I’d say that my AirPods Pro are my most-used bit of Apple tech. I currently have three pairs on the go. A pair of blue AirPods Max with the USB-C port, AirPods 4 with ANC and AirPods Pro 2, and of those, the AirPods Pro 2 are easily the ones I use the most and are the star of the current lineup.

I remember when they came out three years ago, they sat on my desk for a few weeks as I worked my way through reviewing other ‘more exciting’ gear that had been released at that year’s September event.

When I finally put them in, though, geez, they stopped me in my tracks.

I don’t need to go over their qualities again now; that’s old hat, and I’m pretty certain that if you clicked on this story, then you’ll already own a pair and know exactly how good they are.

What excites me, though, is what the future is for AirPods. We chatted over before that Apple doesn’t do things by mistake, and it looks to me as if Apple have some big plans in mind for AirPods.

It may take a few years for us to get to that endgame – but let’s look at the crop of recent stories and get an idea of what Apple’s master plan might be.

AirPods Pro 3 – changes are coming

With Apple’s September event now locked down, it looks pretty likely that we’ll be getting AirPods Pro 3 at the Awe Dropping event on Tuesday, 9th September.

Other than giving AirPods Pro 2 a USB-C case, nothing has changed on them save for firmware updates in three years. As good as they are, Apple knows these are a cash cow and wants to make certain not to neglect them. They’ve led the way for years now in the earbud space, and that is precisely where Apple wants to keep them.

Releasing new AirPods at the iPhone event makes complete sense as they go hand in hand with one another. MacRumors even found a reference to AirPods Pro 3 in one of the early releases of iOS 26 this summer.

AirPods Pro 3 will inherit some of the design language of AirPods 4. The case will be smaller – but not as small as the one used for AirPods 4. Even on the model of AirPods 4 that has wireless charging, there are no magnets inside, so it only supports Qi wireless charging or using the Apple Watch charger.

There is no way Apple would sell AirPods Pro without full wireless charging, so the case will have to be large enough to deal with that. It also needs space for speakers so that it can support Find My as well – but with all that said, the case will be smaller.

Where the cases will be similar, though, is that the new AirPods Pro 3 case won’t have a pairing button. Instead, they will opt to use the concealed capacitive button on the front of the case. That same concealed button will be used for manual pairing and factory resets, exactly like AirPods 4. The status light will be less obvious than it is on the current AirPods Pro 2 as well.

Inside the pod!

The ANC or Active Noise Cancelling on AirPods Pro 2 is already brilliant, and without doubt, it’s their finest party trick. But, if you like them now, just wait – things are about to get better…a whole lot better.

We expect AirPods Pro 3 to finally get the H3 chip, which is faster and will therefore give even better & more responsive noise cancelling. But there are numerous other benefits that the H3 chip will offer, too, though, other than better ANC.

The new chip should offer improved call quality, enhanced audio, along with better and quicker connectivity.

The H3 chip is at the very heart of why these new AirPods Pro will be so much better.

The white iconic design language is expected to change little. The stems may be fractionally shorter and the in-ear element may be smaller, but that’s about it. After all, if it ain’t broke…

But the real genius of the H3 chip lies in the possible health feature benefits that come with it.

AirPods and your health

This is what really made me want to sit and write this story. Apple clearly (in my mind at least) has far-reaching health plans for AirPods in general and AirPods Pro 3 in particular.

One of the headlines that caught my eye was that in-ear heart-rate tracking is coming to AirPods Pro 3 – and that’s massive! Apple already sells the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2, which offer in-ear heart-rate tracking – but with one huge flaw.

With those, you can’t simultaneously stream music and check your heart rate. If this feature ends up coming to AirPods Pro 3, then I guess that Apple will have worked out a way around that problem.

A possible upgrade that Apple is looking to bring to AirPods Pro 3 is in-ear temperature checking. Whether we’re getting ahead of ourselves here or not isn’t clear, though.

Apple likes to keep their cards close to its chest over these sorts of features, but it’s exactly the kind of thing I can see them dropping in a few weeks. It all depends on whether the sensor can be developed in time, I guess. When it does finally come out, though, it will be another big step forward for AirPods and will be way more reliable than the on-skin readings currently offered by your Apple Watch.

Don’t forget, we already have the hearing test feature on AirPods Pro 2, so now you’re starting to see why I think Apple has bigger plans ahead for AirPods.

One other feature rumoured to be coming to AirPods Pro 3 is on-device live translation. That is exactly the kind of AI integration I want to see Apple bringing to their devices. That is a real-world quality of life improvement and is a grown-up and mature use of AI that I want to see Apple lean into.

iOS 26 improvements

I’ve been running the latest public beta of iOS 26 on my iPhone 16e this summer, and AirPods have even been targeted for improvements deep in the OS itself.

You can now enable AirPods to take a picture, which I’ve tried, and it works seamlessly. There is no delay or lag, and if you work alone, for instance, this feature is a huge help.

I listen to podcasts in bed, and now AirPods have been given a feature to switch themselves off after about 10 minutes. They detect when there is no head movement and will then helpfully cut themselves off. That puts an end to voices waking you up after you’ve fallen asleep and also puts an end to trying to scrub back and find where you were up to before you fell asleep on any given podcast.

One other iOS 26 tweak for AirPods is that they now keep the audio in your AirPods when you get into your car, rather than CarPlay kicking in and taking over.

Price

Price-wise, although there has been no firm word, I can easily see Apple increasing the price of AirPods Pro 3 from the current £229 to either £249 or £279. There have been enough meaningful improvements for them to get away with a price increase, I reckon, without too many complaints.

Leaving the best till last

With all that said, there is one other feature that Apple is aching to bring to your AirPods – and that is cameras.

There is not a hope in hell’s chance they will be bringing cameras to this year’s release, but the word is Apple is working hard on developing the technology – and it’s clear to see why.

Infrared cameras would offer Spatial Audio enhancements, further integration of AI features and gesture-based and in-air hand controls similar to those on the Vision Pro.

You know, I said earlier that Apple has this way of making everything come together – my guess is that Apple is working on bringing infrared cameras to AirPods Pro just in time to release with Apple Glasses.

The stars are lining up perfectly if you ask me. We already have the translucent OS, so who’s to say that the play isn’t already in motion plain in sight, as it were?