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

Wednesday September 10, 2025 5:56 am PDT by Tim Hardwick

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 5, AirPods Max 2, AirPods Pro 3

Buyer's Guide: AirPods (Buy Now), AirPods Max (Buy Now), AirPods Pro (Neutral)

Related Forum: AirPods

Popular Stories

Apple Releases New AirPods Beta Firmware

Tuesday September 29, 2026 11:38 am PDT by Juli Clover

Apple today released new beta firmware for the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, AirPods 4, AirPods 5, and AirPods Max 2. The firmware has a build number of 9B5042a and is rolling out for developers and public beta testers. There's no word on what's included in the firmware update because Apple doesn't offer notes for AirPods beta releases. When the AirPods are connected to an iPhone, iPad,...

• 29 comments

Apple Releases New AirPods Beta Firmware

Tuesday October 13, 2026 11:28 am PDT by Juli Clover

Apple today released new beta firmware for the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, AirPods 4, AirPods 5, and AirPods Max 2. The firmware has a build number of 9B5043a and is rolling out for developers and public beta testers. There's no word on what's included in the firmware update because Apple doesn't offer notes for AirPods beta releases. When the AirPods are connected to an iPhone, iPad,...

• 5 comments

AirPods 5 Teardown: Batteries Removable, Case Still Tough

Tuesday September 29, 2026 2:38 pm PDT by Juli Clover

Repair site iFixit today took apart Apple's AirPods 5 for one of its traditional teardown videos. It turns out the new AirPods are slightly more repairable than prior models, but it's still not a simple home fix. The AirPods 5 use pronged batteries that Apple previously used in the AirPods 3, but not the AirPods 4. The battery can be removed with a "nifty pair of tongs," and iFixit says the...

• 43 comments

Top Rated Comments

turbineseaplane

15 months 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

15 months 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

15 months 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

15 months 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

15 months 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)