Apple's New-Look AirPods Lineup After AirPods Pro 2 Discontinued

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Apple announced third-generation AirPods Pro on Tuesday at its "Awe dropping" event, and the company has discontinued AirPods Pro 2 to make room for them in its new-look lineup.

All AirPods 2025
Here's how Apple's AirPods offering looks like now:

  • AirPods 4 – $129
  • AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancelation – $179
  • AirPods Pro 3 – $249
  • AirPods Max – $549

AirPods Pro 3 have the same $249 price tag as the previous generation model, so users will be getting several new features and enhancements for the same outlay.

These include up to 2x better Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), up to 8 hours of listening time with ANC on a single charge, a new design, built-in heart rate sensing, foam-infused ear tips, Live Translation, and more.

Apple has started accepting pre-orders for AirPods Pro 3. The new devices will be delivered to customers starting on Friday, September 19. Will you be getting a pair? Let us know in the comments.

Related Roundups: AirPods 4, AirPods Max, AirPods Pro 3
Buyer's Guide: AirPods (Neutral), AirPods Max (Neutral), AirPods Pro (Buy Now)
Related Forum: AirPods

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Top Rated Comments

turbineseaplane Avatar
turbineseaplane
22 weeks ago
No USB-C cable in the APP3 box is super super cheap behavior, especially at $249 for earbuds that are barely changed from APP2

Also, the "2x better Active Noise Cancellation" is very likely all about the foam-infused ear tips.

Put Foam tips on APP2's and you'll see what I mean right away.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JulianL Avatar
JulianL
22 weeks ago
The AirPods Max are looking more and more like the anomaly to me - the most expensive device in the line-up but still using the H1 chip even after Apple had the opportunity to switch to the H2 chip when it made the switch to USB-C and no attempt to address the issues than many people have with the "case" and lack of power-off button.

Does the AirPod Max have any future or does Apple think it's just not worth its while to try and compete with Sony, B&W etc for that segment of the market?

Personally I'd like an over-the-ear offering from Apple that felt like Apple was still trying to even keep up with let alone beat its competitors in that segment (price range) of the over-ears market.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JulianL Avatar
JulianL
22 weeks ago
Everything I'm hearing about the Pro 3 so far makes me quite excited to get my pre-order delivered on the 19th. It's going to be my first ever AirPod earbuds. This is a very brief review from an audio professional who did an A/B comparison of the AirPod Pro 3s with with his Pro 2s at the launch event and said that the audio quality improvement vs the 2s is significant ...



My only disappointment is that they aren't available in black. I prefer my earbuds not to shout "Apple" when I'm wearing them and white pretty much does that in my opinion. I suppose Apple does want me to shout "Apple" though so I guess I can understand the decision but I wish they'd also consider the customer in that decision or am I in the significant minority in wishing that there was a black option?
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple_Robert Avatar
Apple_Robert
22 weeks ago

No USB-C cable in the APP3 box is super super cheap behavior, especially at $249 for earbuds that are barely changed from APP2

Also, the "2x better Active Noise Cancellation" is very likely all about the foam-infused ear tips.

Put Foam tips on APP2's and you'll see what I mean right away.
I agree with you about the lack of USB-C cable. Most of us on MR have multiple cables around the but, a person shouldn't have to buy a charging cable separately.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JPack Avatar
JPack
22 weeks ago

No USB-C cable in the APP3 box is super super cheap behavior, especially at $249 for earbuds that are barely changed from APP2

Also, the "2x better Active Noise Cancellation" is very likely all about the foam-infused ear tips.

Put Foam tips on APP2's and you'll see what I mean right away.
Yeah, the behavior is getting to be shameless.

At $249, Apple can’t include a cable? The last public BOM estimate put the cost of AirPods Pro at $51.

https://electronics360.globalspec.com/article/14978/teardown-apple-airpods-pro-with-charging-case
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple_Robert Avatar
Apple_Robert
22 weeks ago

Especially since I'd imagine a lot of buyers are coming from APP1 or early APP2, which were both Lightning.

These folks would likely really benefit from getting a USB-C cable in the box ... and a nice Apple woven one would help cinch the deal at $249.
That is true. Think of all the people who will be gifting the new APP3 and not realizing that it doesn't come with a charging cable. If you aren't going to include the cable, lower the price to reflect such, which Apple didn't do.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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