AirPods Pro 3 may support heart rate and body temperature monitoring

In Apple's smart wearable ecosystem, Apple Watch is a product line that integrates many health-related features, but not with AirPods.

In Apple's wearable ecosystem, the Apple Watch is a product line that integrates a lot of health-related features, but AirPods are not. This is why Apple is looking to expand its health care feature set to accessories like AirPods to further support users. From there, creating a network of convenient and advanced personal health monitoring devices.

In his Power On newsletter over the weekend, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman revealed that Apple has been internally testing features including temperature sensors and heart rate monitoring for AirPods. So far, the company has found that the Apple Watch still outperforms AirPods in tracking overall fitness metrics, but the gap between the two product lines is 'not that big' in terms of metrics.

AirPods Pro 3 may support heart rate and body temperature monitoring Picture 1 AirPods Pro 3 may support heart rate and body temperature monitoring Picture 1

Apple is also said to have revived the idea of adding cameras to AirPods, a rumor we've heard a few times over the last year. According to Gurman, Apple now considers such features a 'priority' as the company works to bolster its AI services. But it's likely going to be years before we see AirPods with built-in cameras.

But the heart rate monitoring feature could be on the way much sooner. Gurman said the heart rate technology could be ready for the AirPods Pro 3, and is currently in 'early development' at Cupertino. The feature is primarily intended to serve the health and fitness needs of users without the need to wear an Apple Watch.

Similarly, Apple's upcoming Powerbeats Pro 2 is also expected to support heart rate monitoring during workouts. Based on findings from the iOS 18 source code, users can connect the Powerbeats Pro 2 to gym equipment such as treadmills to measure heart rate, and this data will be displayed in the Health app and other supporting apps on the iPhone.

Back to AirPods Pro 3. Apple's flagship earbuds are likely to be equipped with a new H3 chip, providing superior sound processing efficiency. In addition, there are also rumors that AirPods Pro 3 will have upgraded active noise cancellation compared to the previous generation, but Apple has not confirmed this information.

The exact launch date of AirPods Pro 3 has not been revealed yet.