A new secondary high-end AirPods Pro 3 is being prepared to debut by Apple this year. In 2025, Ming-Chi Kuo, a supply chain analyst, stated that the company will introduce a new version of the AirPods Pro 3 this year, which is not usual for Apple because the company usually has a 3-year interval before making big changes to the hardware of the AirPods.
The 2026 release of the AirPods Pro 3 will feature a bigger upgrade in hardware, along with an infrared camera that could help recognize hand gestures and provide a better experience with spatial audio on the Vision Pro.
The main upgrade shared by both Instant Digital, a Chinese leaker, and Ming-Chi Kuo are confident about is the gesture controls of the infrared camera. The company may be removing pressure-sensors and completely replace with gesture controls. They could also power the new earbuds with a next-gen H3 chip, as Mark Gurman from Bloomberg reported that the audio chip is in the making.
