AirPods Pro 3 vs AirPods 4 with ANC: what are the differences between Apple's noise-cancelling earbuds?

Apple's flagship AirPods Pro 3 have arrived to considerable fanfare. As the successors to what we considered to be Apple's best-ever wireless earbuds, the third-generation flagship in-ears carry the weight of expectation on their shoulders.

They promise “breakthrough audio performance” and improvements to noise-cancelling, the fit, battery levels and plenty of new features.

But how do Apple’s flagship buds compare with the standard AirPods 4 with ANC launched last year? While not perfect, the fourth-gen standard AirPods with active noise cancellation are a fine entry to Apple's wireless buds.

So how do the two main AirPod designs shape up against each other? We are yet to test the AirPods Pro 3, but we have all of the information at hand to make some preliminary comparisons.

Once we have fully reviewed the AirPods Pro 3, we'll update this page to reflect exactly how we feel the two pairs compare in all departments. For now, let's see how they stack up on paper.

AirPods 4 with ANC vs AirPods Pro 3: price

The AirPods 4 with ANC will generally set you back around £179 / $179 / AU$299 at full price – but small discounts will bring those figures down during sales periods such as Prime Day and Black Friday. If you want the more basic AirPods 4 model without noise cancelling, they'll cost you around £129 / $129.

The AirPods Pro 3 are the flagships, of course, so you can expect to pay a higher price than the standard AirPods 4 with ANC.

The good news with the AirPods Pro 3 is that they officially cost £219 / $249 / AU$399, a lower UK launch figure than the AirPods Pro 2, which arrived at £249 / $249 / AU$399 originally. That they are a little cheaper in the UK and the same price elsewhere is hugely welcome; there was no guarantee that Apple wouldn't raise prices in line with inflation during what has been a tricky period for the global economy.

AirPods 4 with ANC vs AirPods Pro 3: design and build

The AirPods 4 stick with the long-running standard AirPods design of having no ear tips. While they still have that iconic white ‘toothbrush head’ look, they go for a more 'open' design wherein the ear pieces sit outside the ear canal rather than fitting snugly inside.

It's a design that works rather well for most people, although there are still some on our review team who struggle to get a secure fit with these 'open' buds. Those of us who find a comfortable fit praise the updated shape and form of the fourth-gen AirPods, finding that they nestle into our ears securely and unobtrusively despite their lack of ear tips. They are also impressively light at just 4.3g each, meaning we almost forgot we were wearing them during our tests.

The AirPods Pro 3 are set to be a different kettle of carp. The flagship buds still feature a bud-and-stem design, but have silicon eartips for a better seal and fit, with five sizes of ear tips coming in XXS (new), XS, S, M and L options. There's no XL tip size, something we feel is a bit of an omission for those of us with larger ear canals, but that's a small grumble.

Apple says the AirPods Pro 3 been reshaped to be better-fitting, analysing 10,000 3D ear scans to offer a more optimised fit. They are smaller than before, and have been redesigned so that the eartips now rotate inwards for a more secure experience.

Both pairs feature on-bud controls that have typically worked well. Pinching the stems on both AirPods lets you control music playback, accept or reject/end a call and summon Siri. You can also long-press the stems to change the noise modes.

With the AirPods Pro 3, the buds feature an additional touch-capacitive layer whereby you can swipe up or down to change volume – something you can't do with the AirPods 4 with ANC.

If you like to take your AirPods with you on your travels or accompany your workouts, it's worth noting that the Pro 3's IP57 dust- and water-resistance beats the IP54 certification of the AirPods 4 with ANC.

That ‘7’ means protection against full immersion for 30 minutes in water up to 3ft (1m) deep, which should give you peace of mind if your buds ever drop into the swimming pool or, heaven forbid, the toilet.

AirPods 4 with ANC vs AirPods Pro 3: features

Both pairs of AirPods share many features, especially when it comes to iOS-only elements, but the AirPods Pro 3 offer a step up as the flagship pair.

For starters, both the AirPods Pro 3 and the AirPods 4 pack Apple's latest H2 chip that offers a smooth experience in daily use and seamless connection to your iOS device.

As you might have twigged, both offer active noise cancelling, but in slightly different ways. It's unusual to find noise-cancelling on earbuds without eartips, but we found that the AirPods 4 with ANC do an impressive job of blocking out enough noise so your music is heard clearly, but still allowing you to be aware of your surroundings.

The AirPods Pro 3, on the other hand, talk a seriously big game, teasing the “world's best in-ear ANC” thanks to their upgraded acoustic seal, ultra-low-noise microphones and advanced computational audio. It claims to offer twice as effective noise-cancelling over the outgoing Pro 2, so they are the ones to pick if you really want to block out external noise entirely. The Pro 3 also feature new eartip designs that combine a foam layer with the silicone shell, which should help block out more noise passively.

In terms of ANC flavours, both offer Adaptive Audio that adjusts the noise-cancelling levels automatically depending on external noise, as well as Transparency mode for hearing more of your surroundings. Both are fitted with a Conversation Awareness mode, too, which drops playback volume automatically when it detects you are speaking.

We haven't tested the Pro 3 yet, but we know that the AirPods 4 with ANC offer a nice balance of noise cancellation for their design. We said in our review that they are able “to smooth out those low rumbles so you can hear music clearly. It’s a nice halfway point between being able to hear your surroundings while not being overwhelmed by those environmental noises that stop you from hearing voices on podcasts or lyrics clearly.”

Both sets offer Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking from compatible Apple devices, and both have the new Live Translation feature for translating select foreign languages in real time and having the resultant transcripts show up on your iPhone in real time.

That wasn't a feature that initially landed with the AirPods 4 with ANC, but it will be coming via an update as long as you have an Apple Intelligence-powered iPhone running on iOS 26.

What are the other differences, then? Well, battery life is one area of deviation, with the Pro 3 offering eight hours on a single charge with ANC on, beating the rather measly four hours of the fourth-gen AirPods.

The Pro 3 are equipped with a MagSafe Charging Case over the standard (but much smaller) wireless case of the AirPods 4, boasting up to 24 hours of total listening time with the case and beating the 20 total hours of the AirPods 4 with ANC.

For health and fitness fanatics, the third-gen flagships have some further tricks up their sleeve, offering new heart rate sensors in the buds that can be used with Fitness app. You also get Hearing Test, Hearing Aid and Hearing Protection features, all of which are now also available with the outgoing AirPods Pro 2 following a recent update.

The Pro 3 do go bigger on key ANC and battery life features than the AirPods 4 with ANC, but we remain impressed that Apple continues to update its standard earbuds to keep them in line with its current-gen innovations.

AirPods 4 with ANC vs AirPods Pro 3: sound quality

Naturally, we can't do a proper head-to-head comparison here. We haven't heard the AirPods Pro 3 yet, so we don't know how well they perform sonically.

However, we have cause to be optimistic: Apple has promised rather a lot from its latest flagship earbuds. The Pro 3 feature a completely new “multiport acoustic architecture”, boasting more precise airflow control and an inward-facing microphone, and claims to deliver deeper bass, a wider soundstage and clearer, more vivid vocals than the five-star Pro 2.

Will the Pro 3 sound better than the AirPods 4 with ANC? We expect them to, considering the Pro 2 offered a noticeable step up in sound quality in every way, with the Pro's sealed in-ear design typically delivering better sound quality overall compared with open designs.

The fourth-gen AirPods set a reasonably high bar for their open design type, sounding agile, clear and detailed, all while retaining a noticeable talent for bringing vocals to the fore.

The AirPods 4 deliver a bigger and more open presentation than their third-gen antecedents, serving up more space between voices and instruments while digging out more detail and textural depth.

We find that the AirPods 4 get close to the AirPods Pro 2’s overall presentation, even if a side-by-side comparison reveals how much more powerful, dynamic and detailed the flagship pair remains. The Pro 2 offer “greater heft and punch to the lower end”, as well as “greater dynamic subtlety, and more nuanced and subtle detail throughout”.

If the Pro 3 improve upon the sound of the Pro 2, then we expect them to be a substantial step up over the AirPods 4 with ANC.

AirPods 4 with ANC vs AirPods Pro 3: early verdict

Naturally, we'll have to get our hands on the AirPods Pro 3 and spend plenty of time testing to find out how they stack up against the standard AirPods 4 with ANC. The Pro 3 talk the talk on paper, but we'll need to assess how much they have improved over their Pro 2 predecessors before we can assess how they fare against the AirPods 4 with ANC.

We admire the AirPods 4 with ANC, especially with regard to how impressively they implement noise cancelling from an 'open' design. They are a satisfying AirPods experience; but they have room for improvement. Whether the AirPods Pro 3 justify the leap up in price for you to upgrade remains to be seen.

MORE:

Read our full AirPods Pro 2 review

And our Apple AirPods 4 with ANC review

Apple AirPods Pro 3 vs AirPods Pro 2: what are the differences?