The world of apple analysts and delicious is torn with whether we should expect AirPods Pro 3 to arrive this year or not. Some say they will show up and others say they will be coming next year with AI-assisting cameras on them.
There is more smoke from the “launch in the 2025” fire because there is a reference to “AirPods Pro 3” called hidden in some audio interface elements in iOS 26’s code.
This was discovered by a contributor from macaroors and warmly comes on the heels of a reference in iOS 18 to a feature that supports “AirPods Pro 2 or later”, although there is nothing later than AirPods Pro 2 … so far.
(If iOS naming above seems confusing, it’s because Apple changes from naming its operating systems based on the version number of the year, except they are named for the year after The software will actually be released in. Come on, hold up, it’s all super clear!)
The strong tip for a 2025 -launching yet
Apple tends to launch new AirPods at the end of the year, probably during a September event where it also launches the iPhone 17. Or maybe it will also be iPhone 26, who knows it.
Under all next Years of code.
None of this is of course guaranteed – Apple could work over a year to come with these code references … but I do not suppose.
I think there is a good chance that more references in the code will be discovered when developers dig in it and that we are likely to see AirPods Pro 3 later in the year.
Don’t worry if you’ve recently purchased AirPods Pro 2, AirPods 4 or AirPods 4 with ANC – you won’t be left behind. Apple revealed two useful new features that came to these models in iOS 26 during its WWDC 2025 Keynote.
To read more about Apple’s development processes, you can check out our interview with Apple’s Senior Vice President of Software Engineering Craig Federighi and Apple Global VP for Marketing Greg Joswiak – including what really happened to the mute Apple Intelligence and AI Siri Launch.
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