Just got the AirPod Pro 3 and just like a previous poster said they sound like shit, I mainly listen to podcasts and unlike my 1st gen APPs it sounds like someone speaking into a badly setup microphone, rather than just someone speaking to you.
I tried to update the firmware from 8A357 to 8B25 but found out that for some reason they need iOS 26 for the firmware update to work, so me with my iPX with the latest available iOS 16 is just SOL.
Why when all AirPods need to update firmware via an iOS/MacOS device do they need the latest version? Planned obsolescence is the only logical conclusion.
The icons in the quick look charge indicator don’t tell you which is the Left, Right or even the case!!! (Picture)
Finally when I walk more than 3m away from my laptop the pods screech in my ear as lose Bluetooth connection and refuse to reconnect automatically. I’m sure all of these issues are fixed in firmware updates but apparently I need to spend 4 hours traveling to and waiting for a Genius Bar appointment to update the firmware.
Looks like these are going back and I’ll be looking for a different option for earphones, and maybe it’s time to move away from iPhone too.
I finally decided on cheap earbuds from now on just for those reasons. Planned obsolescence for one but also the life of the device. There are great $20-30 earbuds out there with decent noise canceling so if I lose one or the battery dies it’s not the big budget killer that the Airpods are.
The APP3s were a present so now I’ve got £200 allocated to a nice pair of headphones… I don’t even mind adding to that for some nice earphones that will switch between Windows, Linux and iOS nicely with good battery and top tier noise cancellation. Never lost one so I’m not too concerned about that, but now I have the fun of trying to work out what is a genuine review and what is just trying to get me to click on a referral link. Any recommendations welcome.