Apple has released the first full update to its AirPods Pro in years.
The new AirPods Pro 3 come with improved battery life, better noise cancellation and a new translation feature that will allow people to communicate despite not speaking through same language. They also now include a heart rate monitor for workouts.
Apple said that the new AirPods have the “best active noise cancellation of any in-ear wireless headphones”. That is four times better than the noise cancellation on the original AirPods Pro, it said.
Apple launched the original AirPods Pro in 2019. It updated them in 2022, with a range of changes, but the earphones have not had an upgrade since.
The most obvious change may be the addition of a heart monitor in the earphone itself. That technology first came with Apple’s new PowerBeats Pro – where it received mixed reviews – but Apple suggested that the system also relies on new machine learning technologies that will allow it to better read people’s heart rate.
The new live translation tool also makes use of both hardware and software changes. It takes in audio through the microphone, translates it, and plays it back through the earphones so that people can understand people speaking in languages that they otherwise cannot speak.
Two people can wear the earphones at once and conduct a conversation without a shared language, Apple said. And it can also be used with an iPhone that will offer a translation on the screen.
The battery is also improved. It will move from six hours on a single charge to eight hours while listening to music with noise cancellation, or 10 hours in transparency mode.
The new AirPods Pro cost the same price of $249 in the US. Pre-orders open today and the earphones will be on sale from 19 September.
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