With Prime Big Deal Days only hours away (the event runs on October 6 and 7), the retailer has already put a few of its headline offers online, and one of them concerns Apple’s latest earbuds: the AirPods Pro 3 go from $249 to $179, a 28% cut. This is the generation that added heart rate tracking and live translation to the range, on top of stronger noise cancellation. For anyone still using an older pair with a battery that gives up halfway through the afternoon, it’s a sensible moment to look at a replacement.
Earbuds That Also Take Your Pulse
The sensor is the real novelty here, and I’ll admit it’s the part that caught my eye first. Built into the earbuds, it measures heart rate and calories burned across up to 50 workout types, which means a run or a gym session can be logged without a watch on the wrist. Paired with an iPhone, the data feeds the Move ring and the step count, and it gives access to Workout Buddy, the coaching feature that runs on Apple Intelligence.
Noise cancellation remains the reason most people buy this line, though. Apple says the AirPods Pro 3 remove up to twice as much unwanted noise as the AirPods Pro 2 and calls it the best active noise cancellation of any in-ear model, a claim that is the company’s own and should be read as such. In practice, that’s the difference between hearing the hum of a train carriage under your podcast and not hearing it at all. Part of the gain comes from the redesigned ear tips, now supplied in five sizes, since a better seal helps isolation as much as it helps bass.
On the audio side, Apple talks about a new acoustic architecture, with deeper bass, clearer separation between instruments and more present vocals, while Spatial Audio is still on board for films and compatible music. Battery life reaches up to 8 hours of listening with noise cancellation switched on, or up to 10 hours in Transparency mode when the Hearing Aid feature is in use. That covers a long-haul flight segment or a full working day with breaks, and the case recharges over USB-C, so one cable does the job for the earbuds and a recent iPhone.
The hearing features deserve a mention because they go further than what earbuds usually offer. A hearing test can be taken at home, the Hearing Aid mode now includes automatic Conversation Boost to make voices easier to follow in a noisy restaurant, and active Hearing Protection lowers exposure to loud surroundings such as a concert or roadworks. Live Translation, for its part, is meant to help two people talk across a language barrier. One caveat I’d keep in mind: Amazon’s listing is dotted with asterisks, and several of these functions (Live Translation and Workout Buddy in particular) depend on Apple Intelligence, so they require a compatible iPhone. Anyone on Android would be paying for a lot they can’t use.
For the practical details, Amazon is selling the AirPods Pro 3 at $179 instead of the $249 list price, in white, with free returns. The listing also includes up to three free months of Apple Arcade, Fitness+ and News+ (terms apply), and buyers currently rate the earbuds 4.4 out of 5 across more than 15,900 reviews. The offer is live ahead of Prime Big Deal Days, which takes place on October 6 and 7.