AirPods Pro 3 will ship to users this Friday, September 19. And while they should prove a fantastic upgrade for everyone (read our full review here), it seems one new feature will be exclusive to iPhone 17 and iPhone Air owners.
Improved Precision Finding is exclusive to iPhone 17 and Air
Do you ever lose your AirPods? Apple knows a lot of people do, so it’s upgraded the AirPods Pro 3 charging case to make it easier to find.
From Apple’s website:
Easily locate the exact place you left your AirPods Pro. A new generation of Ultra Wideband technology in the Charging Case increases the distance for Precision Finding by 1.5x. And with a built-in speaker in the case, you’ll be able to find your AirPods no matter how deep in the couch cushions they are.
The new Ultra Wideband technology is Apple’s U2 chip. The chip has been included in iPhones since the iPhone 15 (though under the branding ‘second-generation Ultra Wideband chip’). AirPods Pro 2’s case only includes the U1.
Users might expect AirPods Pro 3’s U2 to offer improved Precision Finding from any iPhone, or at least those with a U2 chip like iPhone 15. But that’s not what Apple’s site says.
Footnote 12 on the AirPods Pro page offers a qualifier for the 1.5x improved Precision Finding distance:
Compared with AirPods Pro 2. Improved Precision Finding works with AirPods Pro 3 paired with iPhone Air or iPhone 17 models; availability varies by region.
It seems an iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro or Pro Max, or iPhone Air is required to unlock the new Precision Finding gains in AirPods Pro 3.
Is there still some improvement with older iPhone models, but perhaps it’s not as significant? Maybe.
But all Apple has shared publicly to this point is that the new and improved Precision Finding will perform best when using a brand new iPhone 17 or Air. We’ll have to wait and see what users with older iPhones discover after this Friday’s launch.
How much does the upgraded Precision Finding in AirPods Pro 3 matter to you? Let us know in the comments.
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