When the AirPods Pro 3 launched in September 2025, it didn’t take long for Apple to begin playing footsie with sale prices. By the holiday season the price history graph began to look like a Jack-O-lantern’s teeth. Dropping down to $199 on a sale, then spiking again for a short time to its full retail price of $249, then back down and up again.The current $199 deal isn’t unprecedented, but it’s still a damn good deal. Anytime Apple knocks 20 percent off a device that’s barely six months old, it piques my interest and perks up that part of my brain that processes sales (the part where, as a kid, I used to put math).(opens in a new window)AppleAirPods Pro 3(opens in a new window)$199.00 (reg. $249.00) at AmazonBuy Now(opens in a new window)$199.00 (reg. $249.00) at WalmartBuy Now(opens in a new window)apple’s best earbudsUnless you want to spring for the $529 over-the-ear Apple AirPods Max 2, the AirPods Pro 3 are Apple’s top-of-the-line choice in a wearable audio device. What’s even in the name of the AirPods Max 2? The big, hulking headphones aren’t very pod-like, in my estimation. Nothing like the svelte AirPods that tuck comfortably into the ear and don’t make the area around the ears all sweaty, like a pair of headphones. But I digress.You can pick up a pair of the AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation (ANC) for $156, and like the AirPods Pro 3 (which also has ANC) they’ll have a transparency mode that boosts environment noises so that you can still hear people talk to you when your ‘Pods are in your ears.The Pro come with silicone tips that are more comfortable and do a better job at keeping the earbuds from falling out of the ears, compared to the AirPods 4’s all-plastic build. Both earbuds use Apple’s H2 chip, but the AirPods Pro 3 include a hearing aid function and a feature that helps isolate peoples’ voices from background noise, so the Pro get the performance edge, too.When the AirPods 4 ANC and AirPods Pro 3 are at their full retail prices of $179 and $249, respectively, there’s more of a case to be made for saving the $70 and nabbing the AirPods 4, at least some for some value-minded shoppers. But with this sale on the AirPods 3, you may as well grab ’em while the price differential is barely half that of usual.(opens in a new window)AppleAirPods Pro 3(opens in a new window)$199.00 (reg. $249.00) at AmazonBuy Now(opens in a new window)$199.00 (reg. $249.00) at WalmartBuy Now(opens in a new window)The post Not Just Hot Air(Pods): This AirPods Pro 3 Deal Is Actually Good appeared first on VICE.