In terms of audio performance, connection, and design, the Apple AirPods (3rd generation) is a significant leap over their predecessors – and while they come at a higher price, we believe they’re a worthwhile purchase if you have the previous AirPods.
We wouldn’t necessarily suggest them for Android users, though. Because the AirPods 3 are designed for usage within the Apple ecosystem, Android users will lose out on many of the extra features that set them apart from other true wireless earbuds on the market, and the lack of noise cancellation means they aren’t the highest-spec earbuds at this price.
Review for two minutes
The Apple AirPods 3 are the newest in Apple’s line of true wireless earbuds and over-ear headphones, and they include a number of improvements over their predecessors, the AirPods 2.
They’re not cheap at $179 / £169 / AU$279, but they’re also not as expensive as Apple’s noise-cancelling earbuds, the AirPods Pro – and they’re a fraction of the cost of the over-ear AirPods Max.
The new AirPods have a similar overall appearance to the original AirPods, but they have shorter stems and curved housings that are more pleasant to wear than the prior generation. Touch capacitive force sensors have been added to those stems, which you can squeeze to control music playback and accept and stop phone calls.
The AirPods 3 are acceptable for use when working out due to their lightweight design and IPX4 water-resistant rating; and while they don’t feel as secure as earbuds like the Powerbeats Pro, they were able to survive a gentle jog without slipping out of our ears.
While we appreciate the new cosmetic elements, we were most impressed with Apple’s enhancements to the audio performance of these earbuds. New drivers and amplifiers deliver a well-balanced sound, and Spatial Audio support promises to make your favourite music seem more immersive than ever.
The effect is spectacular, whether you’re listening to Dolby Atmos-mixed music or conventional stereo files that have been upscaled utilising Spatial Audio technology. When you use the AirPods 3 to watch movies, the experience is much better. You don’t even need an iPhone to use Spatial Audio; all you need is a Dolby Atmos-enabled phone and an app that supports the format.
The AirPods 3 aren’t meant to be mistaken for audiophile-grade in-ear headphones. Hi-res audio isn’t supported, and the treble frequencies can be harsh at times — a fault that was also present with the second-generation AirPods.
Thanks to a redesigned acoustic mesh that covers the AirPods’ outward-facing microphones and compatibility for the AAC-ELD codec, calls sound crystal clear.
The AirPods 3’s battery life has also been enhanced over the AirPods 2, albeit the change is minor when using them with Spatial Audio activated. However, if you turn off that option, you may get up to 30 hours of playback, which is more than enough to get you through a week of commuting.
As you might expect, the connection is excellent – as long as you’ve already invested in the Apple ecosystem. It was as simple as opening the wireless charging case and hitting the instruction that flashed on our screen to pair the buds with an iPhone 13 mini.
AirPods (3rd generation) users with iOS 15 smartphones gain additional connection capabilities including hands-free Hey Siri activation, Announce Notifications, Audio Sharing, Group Facetime with Spatial Audio, and integration with Apple’s Find My network.
These new quality-of-life features set the AirPods 3 apart from competing versions, and they help to make the lack of active noise suppression more bearable.
Unfortunately, if you don’t own an iOS device, you won’t be able to use any of these functions. As a result, we wouldn’t suggest the AirPods 3 to anyone who isn’t already familiar with Apple’s smartphone, laptop, tablet, or wearable lineup.
The AirPods 3 are a terrific pick if you adore all things Apple and want a pair of wireless earphones that ‘simply work,’ and they’re a major step forward over the AirPods 2.
Apple AirPods (3rd generation) price and release date
- Available now
- $179 / £169 / AU$279
- Cheaper than the AirPods Pro
The Apple AirPods 3 (2021) are available for $179 / £169 / AU$279 right now. They went on sale for the first time on October 26, 2021.
That’s less expensive than the noise-cancelling AirPods Pro but more expensive than the second-generation AirPods, which cost $159 / £159 / AU$249 with the regular charging case when they were released in 2019. The wireless charging case will set you back $199 / £199 / AU$319 if you choose it. The AirPods 3 come with a wireless charging case as standard.
The price of the second-gen AirPods has since been reduced. Apple is now selling them for $129 / £119 / AU$219, and they’re sure to be discounted even further over Black Friday.
The AirPods (3rd generation) are less expensive than several of our top recommendations, such as the Sony WF-1000XM4 and the NuraTrue earbuds, when compared to other true wireless earbuds on the market. However, at this price point, earbuds with active noise cancellation are more common, which the AirPods 3 lack.
There are also a variety of less expensive wireless earphones to choose from. For $149.99 / £129.99 / AU$199.95, earbuds like the Cambridge Music Melomania 1 Plus and the Lypertek PurePlay Z3 2.0 deliver excellent audio quality for the price, and versions like the Beats Studio Buds even have active noise cancellation.
Design
- Shorter stems than AirPods 2
- New contoured housings
- Touch-sensitive controls
In terms of design, the AirPods 3 don’t deviate too far from previous AirPods models, with an all-white minimalist aesthetic, protruding stems, and gently curved lines.
The AirPods 3 resemble the AirPods Pro more than the second-generation AirPods, with shorter stems and softly curved housings, giving them a more streamlined, beautiful appearance.
Touch-capacitive force sensors, similar to those found on the AirPods Pro, are included into those stems, allowing you to control your music playing with a squeeze of the stem. You may also accept or stop calls by squeezing the stem.
The controls were really sensitive, and we like the little “click” sound that indicates that your touch had been detected. Some haptic feedback, as with the AirPods Pro, would be nice – a little vibration from the buds themselves rather than a click, but that isn’t a dealbreaker.
It’s a shame you can’t adjust the level of your song with your finger moving up and down the stems, since this would be a nice feature. You’ll have to ask Siri or take your phone out of your pocket for that.
There are no replaceable eartips, unlike the AirPods Pro. Those who don’t enjoy the feeling of earbuds being shoved into their ear canals will appreciate the second-generation AirPods’ semi-open design, although sound isolation isn’t the best.
When wearing the AirPods 3, you’ll be able to hear pretty much everything going on around you, plus there’s some sound leakage – something to keep in mind if you’re using them in a busy environment and don’t want everyone listening in on your music.
The housings have been constructed to funnel sound right into your ears to reduce the audio loss that occurs with a semi-open design — and it looks to be very effective.
The AirPods 3 are quite pleasant to wear, thanks to their small weight. The AirPods 3 weigh 4.28 grammes a piece, so you won’t feel like you’re wearing two lumps of lead in your ears, and their smooth, curved form shouldn’t bother smaller ears.
But we’re not sure how safe they feel. While the AirPods didn’t fall out of our ears during a casual jog, we wouldn’t lay our life on their staying in during a more strenuous workout. If you’re worried about losing an earbud, go for a pair with built-in ear fins or a set of neck buds with the extra security of a cord.
Thanks to an IPX4 rating, the AirPods 3 are well suited to manage a little sweat during a workout or being caught out in the rain. This ranking also applies to the case.
The charging case is substantially smaller than the one that came with the AirPods 2. With a light, compact construction and a flip-top cover that’s simple to open one-handed, it more closely resembles the AirPods Pro charging case.
When you open the case, a tiny LED on the front turns green if the AirPods are completely charged, and amber if there is less than one full charge left. If the AirPods are ready to pair with one of your devices, this light will also flash white.
A Lightning connector is included at the bottom of the charging case, but the battery may also be charged using a Qi-certified charging pad or an Apple MagSafe charger. The packaging includes a USB-C to Lightning connection, but you’ll need to obtain your own plug.
Overall, the AirPods 3 are a significant advance over their predecessors in terms of design. They’re smoother, more subtle, and more substantial, all at the same time.
Audio performance
- Spatial Audio support
- Well balanced sound
- Good sound quality for calls
In terms of audio quality, the AirPods 3 feel like a big upgrade over their predecessors. They include innovative low-distortion, custom-made drivers as well as high dynamic range amplifiers. According to Apple, the latter is designed to offer “powerful bass with clear, clean high frequencies.”
The new earbuds have a more robust, warmer sound than the AirPods 2, and they do a better job of expressing bass sounds. These aren’t audiophile in-ear headphones by any stretch of the imagination, but they’re a great listen for music or podcasts.
The AirPods 3 should be slightly suited to your ears thanks to supporting for Adaptive EQ (originally seen on the AirPods Pro). This technology adjusts the sound of the earphones in real-time to match your ear canal. According to Apple, an inward-facing microphone detects sound, and the computational audio that powers the Adaptive EQ function adjusts the low and mid frequencies “to account for what may be lost owing to fit differences.”
The AirPods 3 accompany one more stunt up their sleeves: Spatial Audio support. Apple’s Spatial Audio innovation takes 5.1, 7.1 and Dolby Atmos content and applies directional sound channels, setting sound in a 3D circle. This causes it to feel more vivid; as though the sound is coming at you from each point.
As of not long ago, this component just worked with the AirPods Pro and the AirPods Max, since it depends on their underlying accelerometers and whirligigs to follow the situation of your head and guarantee the sound is coming from the correct course.
Similar tech is affecting everything in the AirPods 3, and the impact is super-great. We began by paying attention to a Dolby Atmos blend of The Doors’ Riders On The Storm on Apple Music.
the AirPods 3 close to an iPhone playing apple music
As the musicians converse with one another toward the beginning of the track, the spatial sound situating of their voices causes it to feel like you’re in the room with them.
At the point when the drummer includes, we hear the sound of a tempest breaking. It feels like a downpour is falling overhead, with moving thunder panning from right to left.
The situating of the instruments in space is inconspicuous, yet compelling. Toward our right is the smooth guitar, while the organ chugs away to our left side. At the rear of the soundstage, the bass and drums give the cadenced spine of the track, while Jim Morrison’s dulcet vocal resonates directly at the front.
Each instrument has its own space to sparkle, and the bass, mid, and high pitch frequencies feel good-adjusted. It isn’t the most itemized or musically close version we’ve known about this specific track, yet the AirPods 3 work really hard of passing on a feeling of the room, and the situating of the various instruments in a virtual circle.
the AirPods 3 with an iPhone 13 smaller than normal showing spatial sound on apple music
Michael Kiwanuka’s You Ain’t The Problem is similarly great in such a manner – despite the fact that we observed the whipping electric guitar lines to be too conspicuous in the blend, to the point that the hooky ‘la-la-la’s segment toward the start of the tune sounded curbed. The AirPods 3 appear to have similar issues with high pitch cruelty as their archetypes, and more occupied tracks can sound sloppy on occasion.
Traditional music passages are very well in Spatial Audio. Paying attention to Saint Saëns’ Danse Macabre, and each instrument genuinely sings, from the roaring tubas to the perky glockenspiel tunes. Underhanded violin themes and delicate woodwind sound itemized, and the AirPods 3 handle the musical changes sensibly well for a couple of earbuds at this cost.
Tuning in without Spatial Audio empowered (you can turn this off by going to the Control Center of your iPhone and holding down the volume slider), and the partition between various instruments is less noteworthy. By the by, the soundstage is still basically adjusted and wonderful to pay attention to.
the airpods 3 close to an iphone 13 smaller than usual showing apple television
Codec support is restricted – you’ve quite recently got SBC and AAC. This implies the AirPods 3 can’t deal with greetings res sound streaming. It’s a disgrace since Apple Music offers Lossless sound – and keeping in mind that Bluetooth hasn’t had the data transmission vital for really lossless music gushing previously, ongoing developments, for example, Qualcomm aptX Lossless have made it conceivable.
Spatial Audio for music functions admirably, however, the innovation’s best application is for the film. The AirPods 3 are more than equipped for taking care of muddled Dolby Atmos soundtracks. Watching Blush, an energized short on Apple TV Plus, we felt like rockets were truly zooming past our heads.
Concerning calls, an acoustic lattice covers the external beamforming amplifiers, which is intended to diminish the sound of wind and make your voice sound understood. The AirPods 3 additionally support the AAC-ELD codec, which Apple says will convey “Full HD voice quality” – whatever that implies. When settling on decisions utilizing the AirPods 3, beneficiaries said that our voice sounded intelligible, and they didn’t see any foundation clamour.
Battery life
- 30-hour max battery life
- 24 hours with Spatial Audio on
- Wireless charging case
The AirPods 3 come with improved battery life… sort of. While the 2019 AirPods offered 24 hours of playback in total (that’s about five hours from the earbuds and a further 19 hours from the charging case), the new AirPods 3 offer a 30-hour max battery life.
The buds themselves are said to provide up to six hours of listening time or four hours of speaking time, with the case providing four more charges. A short five-minute charge can offer you around an hour of playing time if you’re in a hurry. The AirPods 3 come with a wireless charging case that is compatible with Apple’s MagSafe ecosystem, just as the AirPods Pro.
All of this sounds great, but with Spatial Audio turned on, the inbuilt battery life drops to five hours, which is the same as the previous AirPods. Because one of the major reasons to buy the AirPods 3 over the AirPods 2 is for Spatial Audio, the longer battery life isn’t really an advantage.
Connectivity
- Work best with iOS devices
- Super fast pairing
- Extra features for iOS 15
Not surprisingly, the AirPods 3 are optimized for use with Apple devices, with a one-touch setup that automatically pairs the buds with your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or MacBook
When using your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Apple TV, you may now share the audio stream across two pairs of AirPods, AirPods Pro, or AirPods Max while using your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Apple TV – quite useful if you want to share your music without sharing your friends’ soiled earphones. Although we noticed a dip in loudness when sharing music with a buddy, we found this function to operate pretty well.
There’s also a new skin-detect sensor in the AirPods 3 that detects whether the buds are in your ear or on a table or inside your pocket. If they’re not in your ear, music will be halted, which should save you some battery life.