We are still weeks away from Apple's September event where we expect our first official look at products like the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro and Apple Watch 10 But that hasn't stopped the rumor mill from burning a few nuggets about the rumored AirPods Pro 3, regardless of whether they are joined by those other devices at next month's event

The latest of these rumors comes from X-user Kosutami, a well-known Apple information leaker, who claims that there will be major improvements to the wireless earphones' active noise-canceling technology

Recall, the AirPods Pro 2 had twice the noise-cancellation improvement over the original AirPods Pro, and the wireless earbuds seem poised to make a similar leap in their third iteration (Technically, it could be the fourth, if you include last year's redesign of the AirPods Pro 2 with USB-C) i

So there's bad news: there's no guarantee we'll see the AirPods Pro 3 at the September 9 Apple event In fact, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the main source of all Apple leaks, says it won't be available until 2025 at the earliest

Unfortunately, I would agree with Gurman on this We just got a USB-C revamp for earbuds last year, and it was only made possible because of European Union legislation that forced Apple to adopt USB-C as a universal charging port, effectively banning the sale of products if they did not comply by the end of 2024

In that regard, Apple has no real impetus to release the AirPods Pro 3 Instead, the company is likely focusing on the AirPods 4 and/or AirPods Max 2 Both current generations of these models use the older Lightning connector for charging

Another piece of evidence supporting my theory is the rather large price drop for the AirPods Max, with the over-the-ear headphones hitting a record low of $399 as one of the best Labor Day sales I'm no fortune teller, but it seems to me that Apple is trying to get retailers to clear out their old inventory before the new models hit store shelves next month

All we can do for now is wait and see what Apple has in store for us But we will not stop listening for new rumors as we get closer to September 9