7 features I want to see from the AirPods Pro 3

The AirPods Pro earphones are one of Apple’s most iconic products, offering enhanced features compared to the now-“vintage” AirPods (hence the “Pro” name). This year, Apple is expected to release a new version of the AirPods Pro, which got us thinking about the features and improvements we’d like to see in the next version. How will Apple improve on their already great wireless earphones?

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Rumors about the next AirPods Pro are scarce, but that doesn’t stop us from speculating and thinking about what we’d like to see in the next model. Here are all the great things we’d like to see in the next AirPods Pro, from most likely to least likely. This isn’t a criticism of the current device; I own AirPods Pro and I absolutely love them. But just because AirPods are already great doesn’t mean they can’t be made even better.

1 Transparency mode improvements

Controlling what gets filtered

Transparency Mode is one of the best features the AirPods Pro offer, but there’s definitely room for improvement. Because the Transparency Mode technology has to figure out which sounds to let through and which to block, adding a bit more intelligence to it could make the feature even more capable.

A customizable transparency mode would also be great, allowing users to adjust how transparent they want the sounds to be. Additionally, they could block keyboard clicks and quiet chatter while still allowing certain sounds through, like sirens and loud voices. Essentially, filtering out important sounds while blocking out unimportant ones, rather than letting the device’s algorithms decide which sounds to filter, would be a game changer.

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2 Longer stem for better touch control

Squeezing and scrolling become seamless

Compared to the base model, the stems of the AirPods Pro are quite small, which is odd, especially considering their functionality. A shorter stem would look better, but it would make the controls on the stem less enjoyable to use. If Apple made the stems a bit longer, it would be easier to control the volume of your music. I’m not asking them to make them as long as the regular AirPods; it would just look a bit weird. Still, a few millimeters longer wouldn’t detract from the overall look of the headphones and would add a bit more functionality.

3 Wi-Fi Audio

Embrace the next big trend in audio

The next frontier in audio quality is Wi-Fi, not Bluetooth. Bluetooth has improved a lot over the last few years, but Wi-Fi can deliver lossless audio (but at the expense of significantly reduced battery life). If Apple implements Wi-Fi audio in the next AirPods Pro, you’ll be able to enjoy the detail of lossless audio tracks that Bluetooth just can’t match.

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Wi-Fi is clearly a focus for the company, as Apple has already adopted it in other products such as the Vision Pro, so hopefully we’ll be able to enjoy the same audio quality with the AirPods Pro when connected to a Wi-Fi network with the 2024 AirPods Pro model.

Four Bluetooth LE support makes listening in public easy

Auracast and AirPods would be awesome

Bluetooth LE and Auracast are one of the most amazing advancements in audio technology as a way to share audio from your device and receive audio from other devices. For example, when you’re watching TV in a public place, you can connect your headphones to the TV and hear everything. If your gym has a muted TV on the wall, you can connect to that and listen (of course, the gym must support this new technology as well).

Apple hasn’t announced plans to support Bluetooth LE with Auracast yet, so I’m not holding out much hope, but it’s nice to dream. If it becomes widespread, Apple will likely bring it to the AirPods Pro at some point, but I don’t expect that to happen in 2024.

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Five Extending Battery Life

As AirPods become more and more popular, their batteries should follow suit.

We always want new products to have longer battery life, and the AirPods Pro earphones are no exception. The current battery life is fine, but there is always room for improvement. Even if Apple could add an hour or two to the battery life of the 2024 AirPods Pro, I would be happy and it might be enough of a reason to upgrade from my current AirPods Pro.

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Of course, the case extends the life of your AirPods Pro, but it’s not a perfect solution since you can’t actually listen to anything while they’re charging. The current model is rated for six hours of listening time, but it would be nice if Apple could bump that up to eight hours to get continuous playback for an average work day.

6 Temperature monitoring

A new look at health wearables

The AirPods Pro are popular with gym-goers and exercise enthusiasts, so it would be useful for them to read and report body temperature, a feature that would seem easy for Apple to implement since they’re already connected to the iPhone.

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There have been many rumors that this is a feature Apple is actively working on for future AirPods Pro models, but it’s unclear if it’s due to arrive in 2024 or something we’ll have to wait longer for. The company already monitors temperature with the latest Apple Watch, and ear-based thermometers have been around for a while, so it seems like a natural pairing; Sennheiser Momentum Sport earphones promise temperature tracking capabilities and are due to launch in April. Apple likely won’t want to fall behind its competitors in this regard, either.

7 Dustproof rating

The ultimate Apple Watch Ultra companion

Currently, the AirPods Pro are IPX4 rated, meaning they can withstand some water but no protection against dust or other solid particles. Few earbuds have a dust rating, which means this could be a great opportunity for Apple to get ahead of the competition by offering a dust rating on its top-of-the-line truly wireless headphones. This isn’t necessarily an update that will appeal to everyone, but it’s one of those changes you wish you had until it’s too late.

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Adding dust resistance allows Apple to sell the AirPods Pro 3 to a lot of new markets (the same type of people it targets with the Apple Watch Ultra). Climbers will benefit from being able to navigate dusty areas without worrying about dust scratching their precious earbuds. Personally, I don’t mind chopping a golf ball in a sand bunker and sending sand flying everywhere (except maybe ruining my golf score, which would have happened whether the AirPods Pro were dust-resistant or not).