An analyst with a middling track record has planted his flag on a release year for AirPods Pro third generation, with a prediction of a 2026 release.
Following WWDC, there was hope that Apple was intending to bring out an update to the AirPods Pro in the future. If an analyst is to be believed, there’s more than six months to go until their release.
According to a note to investors by GF Securities’ Jeff Pu, Apple’s launch lineup for 2026 includes the AirPods Pro 3. No other updates in the AirPods line are expected for the rest of 2025, nor in 2027 based on current expectations from the analyst.
Pu’s post, picked up by @Jukanlosreve on X, doesn’t offer any other detail about the launch timing, except for the year.
The forecast from Pu lines up with expectations from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who posted in May that production of camera-equipped AirPods are on the way in 2026.
A hopeful sign
The rumor mill is especially confident about the existence of the AirPods Pro 3, because Apple itself has leaked its existence. It’s done so on two occasions, via operating system code leaks.
In mid-May, a text string was found to have changed from “AirPods Pro 2nd generation” to read “AirPods Pro 2 or later.” On June 10, the first developer beta for iOS 26 explicitly mentioned AirPods Pro 3 alongside AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro.
Neither leak indicates a time frame for release, but the mentions confirm a new model is on the way.
Current rumors for the AirPods Pro 3 include the possibility of an updated design and better ANC, as well as new sensors. That list can include heart rate monitoring and temperature sensing, making the more useful for fitness.
There is also a reasonable chance of there being onboard cameras, which can provide more data for use with Visual Intelligence.
