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Apple announces new iPhone 17, AirPods Pro 3 and Apple Watch Series 11
The new AirPods Pro 3 can track workouts and do live translations.
Apple AirPods Pro 2 are some of our favorite wireless earbuds — this new model has big shoes to fill.
AirPods Pro 3 look similar to the previous model, but have major improvements. Physically, each AirPods Pro 3 earbud is slightly smaller. The earbuds are now IP57 dust and waterproof. And each earbud gets up to eight hours of battery life, a slight bump from the last iteration’s six hours.
The biggest feature to me is that you can track workouts on iPhone with just your AirPods Pro 3. Each earbud has a heart rate monitoring built in, similar to the Beats Powerbeats Pro 2s. You can start a workout from the Apple Fitness app, and your phone and earbuds will track your heart rate and calories burned.
Automated noise cancelling is two times stronger, according to the brand. AirPods Pro 3 can also do live translation — the earbuds can translate a voice you are hearing into your preferred language with Apple Intelligence-powered Siri.
Apple is launching the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max and, new to this year, iPhone 17 Air.
All new models start with 256GB of storage. Unlike the last few years, the brand is not launching a new Plus model phone.
This is the first iPhone with the Air name, and it matches the general design philosophy of the MacBook Air: it’s lightweight, sleek and priced lower than Pro models.
It’s 5.6 millimeters, the thinnest of any iPhone by far — the iPhone 16, by comparison, is 7.8 millimeters. Like the iPhone 17 Pro, it has a responsive 120Hz screen and new ceramic shield on the back that’s more durable than previous rear designs, according to the brand.
Also new with iPhone 17 Air is dual capture video: you can record video on the front and rear camera at the same time, perfect for capturing your reactions to events as they happen.
The new iPhone Pro models have a slightly new design, with a large rectangular camera bar on the back of the phone (instead of the previous square in the corner). All three cameras (wide, main and telephoto) are now 48 megapixels, including the 4X telephoto lens, which should lead to more detailed photos. Battery life is also improved — the iPhone 17 Pro gets up to 39 hours of video playback (up from 27 hours on 16 Pro), according to the brand.
The biggest change from the iPhone 16 is the screen — the iPhone 17 is brighter, and has a faster, more responsive 120Hz screen, similar to the iPhone Pro models. The screen is also slightly larger at 6.3-inches.
The phone also has improved cameras, including a 48 megapixels ultrawide camera (up from 12 megapixels in the iPhone 16) and a new front-facing camera with a square aspect ratio. Battery life and charging speeds have also improved, according to the brand.
The brand also announced three new smartwatches for 2025.
There are a few standout new features coming to Apple Watch Series 11. One is high blood pressure (hypertension) alerts. The Series 11 uses an algorithm to review sensor data over a 30 day period to see if you have patterns of hypertension, according to the brand. It also improves sleep tracking with sleep scores, similar to brands like Oura, Fitbit and Garmin. Series 11 gets up to 24 hours of battery life (up from 18 hours on Series 10).
The Apple Watch Ultra has always been the brand’s most premium wearable. This latest model comes with new satellite texting — you can connect to a satellite to send messages when you don’t have a cell signal or Wi-Fi connection. It also gets up to 42 hours of battery life (up from 36), and has a brighter screen that’s easier to see at off-angles (similar to the Apple Watch Series 10 and 11).
The lower priced Apple Watch SE does not get updated as often as the Apple Watch Series models, so it’s exciting to finally see the Apple Watch SE 3 announced (the 2nd generation SE was announced back in 2022). The new version has an always-on display, a first for the SE series. It also has faster charging, similar to the more premium Apple Watches.
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I am a reporter at NBC Select who covers technology including recent stories on smartwatches, cameras, earbuds and more. For this piece, I confirmed details about Apple’s new and upcoming products in press releases and product pages.
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