Apple’s wireless Bluetooth headphones are among the most popular in the industry, to the point where the company made more money from sales than MasterCard or Adobe in an entire year. AirPods are a mass phenomenon and since the first version came out in late 2016, Californians have released new models with improved features.

The third-generation AirPods (2021) is the latest addition to the catalog. This review drinks from the AirPods Pro (2019), the most complete fully wireless Bluetooth headphones from Cupertino. At first glance, they are almost identical, but they have many differences and key points that can make us opt for one or the other. We put them face to face.

Features AirPods 3 and AirPods Pro

Design – The 3rd generation AirPods and AirPods Pro are very similar in design. Although the dimensions of the headphones and charging case are not the same, they are practically identical except that the Pro has interchangeable silicone ear tips because they are necessary for one of the sound functions that we will discuss later.
Sound technology: the AirPods Pro is the most complete in this section because they have active noise cancellation and ambient sound mode. They share the third-generation spatial audio with dynamic head tracking and adaptive equalization.
Battery: At this point, the AirPods 3 “win” because they last up to six hours of playback per charge and up to 30 hours with the charging case, compared to 4.5 hours for the AirPods Pro. We put the win in quotation marks because the autonomy of the AirPods Pro is reduced by the active noise cancellation function.
Price: AirPods 3 have a suggested retail price of €199 and AirPods Pro with MagSafe Charging Case at €279. However, they can usually be found much cheaper in stores, around 179 euros and 210 euros, respectively

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AirPods 3 or AirPods Pro, which wireless Bluetooth headphones to buy?

The third-generation AirPods and AirPods Pro are similar in their design and that they have spatial audio with dynamic head tracking, and little else. The differential factor between both headphones is active noise cancellation, one of the most desired functions in this type of device. So the purchase decision rests on whether this feature is a must or not.

The autonomy can also be a factor to take into account because we went from 4.5 hours in the AirPods Pro to 6 hours in the third generation AirPods. Regarding the price, it is not a huge difference if it is purchased in stores that are not the Apple Store, because it can be around 30 euros with an offer, which is quite common in these headphones.