Can you believe that it’s only been nine years since Apple released the very first AirPods? Somehow, it seems that it’s been forever that we’ve been seeing these little, abbreviated toothbrush handles sticking out of people’s ears.

The AirPods Pro launched three years later in 2019, and now that the AirPods Pro 3 are out, the question on many minds is whether it’s time to upgrade. Those who rode out the release of the AirPods Pro 2 and kept using their original AirPods Pro are now two generations behind.

So what do you gain by upgrading?

choices, choices

If buying into the AirPods Pro family for the first time or if your love for your well-worn, battered AirPods Pro 1 is fading, then I’ve made the argument that the best value is to leave the AirPods Pro 3 to ripen on the Apple branch a little longer and pick up the AirPods Pro 2 for a steep discount instead.

On a seemingly permanent sale, they gain active noise cancellation (ANC) twice as effective at blocking surrounding environmental noise compared to the AirPods Pro 1, as well as battery life (with ANC on) that grows from the first-generation’s 4.5 hours, plus “more than” 20 further hours with the charging case, to six hours and another 24 hours with the charging case.

You also gain the ability to adjust the volume using the touch-based controls on the stem. The lack of that was one of my major sticking points on the AirPods Pro 1. The built-in Bluetooth improves from the 5.0 standard to the more reliable and lower latency (quicker, less laggy) 5.3 standard.

The AirPods Pro 2 are a significant improvement over the AirPods Pro 1. The AirPods Pro 3 over the AirPods Pro 2, a little less so.

The AirPods Pro 3 continue a trend in offering additional sizes of rubber ear tips to fit a wider variety of ears. There were three sizes in the first generation, four in the second generation, and five for the latest AirPods Pro.

Battery life for the AirPods Pro 3 earbuds themselves grows to eight hours on a charge, but the charging case only offers an additional 16 hours, a significant downgrade from the AirPods Pro 2.

Bluetooth 5.3 is the same, but according to Apple, the ANC effectiveness doubles that of the AirPods Pro 2. That means it’s supposedly four times better than the first-generation ‘buds.

There’s no real point to buying the AirPods Pro 1 anymore, if you can even find them anywhere other than the used market. That makes the AirPods Pro 2 the value leader, and a great value at that.

When money is less of an obstacle, the AirPods Pro 3 gain the upper hand. Heck, you got this many years out of your original, first-generation AirPods Pro, right? You can swing the more expensive AirPods Pro 3, knowing that you’ll use them for so long that the cost is spread out over many years.

This, friends, is called rationalization, and it underpins much of the world’s economy. Go forth, friend.