Costing £169 ($179/A$279), they are being sold alongside the older 2nd-gen versions, now reduced to £119, and the £239 AirPods Pro.
They stay in place even when jumping around or violently shaking my head, and are fairly comfortable for upwards of 90 minutes at a time. But as anyone who has tried the previous versions only to have them immediately fall out will tell you, your mileage may vary as each ear is unique.
The shorter stalks have the same pressure-sensitive strip on them as the AirPods Pro. Squeeze it once, twice or thrice to pause the music or skip track, or hold to access Siri on an iPhone. Take one out and the music pauses and resumes when you put it back in your ear.
The charging case is slightly larger than that of the previous generation, but smaller than the AirPods Pro and is one of the smallest and most-pocketable of all true wireless earbuds.
The battery lasted over seven hours in testing for music. And four for calls. A fully charged case can recharge the earbuds up to four times. A five-minute quick charge of the earbuds gives up to one hour of playback.
The new AirPods have the same H1 chip and advanced features as other Apple headphones. They instantly pair with an iPhone or iPad, share the audio of one device to two sets of AirPods and automatically switch connection between Apple devices. The latter feature is magic when it works, but can easily get confused requiring manual switching.
They are standard Bluetooth 5.0 earbuds, though, so can be used with most non-Apple devices such as Android phones and Windows PCs, but without the long squeeze, pause-on-remove and advanced features.
Apple does not provide an expected lifespan for the batteries. Those in similar devices typically last at least 500 full charge cycles while maintaining at least 80% of their original capacity. A battery service costs from £45.
The third-generation AirPods cost £169 ($179/A$279).
For comparison, the AirPods Pro cost £239, the Beats Studio Buds cost £130, the Google Pixel Buds A-Series cost £100, the Microsoft Surface Earbuds cost £199 and the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 cost £99.
The AirPods 3 are a solid revamp of one of the most popular sets of true wireless earbuds, adopting a better design, improved sound, longer battery life and more advanced features such as spatial audio.
Their open-air fit is unrivalled in the industry and certainly has some advantages. But the complete lack of noise isolation makes them hard to use in loud environments and stops them sounding as good as rivals with silicone earbud tips.
They work really well with an iPhone and other Apple gear, but are more limited with Android and Windows devices, so I would only recommend them if you use at least one compatible Apple gadget.
They are essentially unrepairable, however, making battery replacement improbable and ultimately making them disposable, losing a star.
