Time magazine included Apple’s new AirPods Pro 3 in its 300 best inventions of the year, thanks to new features like live translation and heart rate tracking. Here are some highlights from this year’s list, including the second Apple product featured in the Special Mentions section.
Live translation in your ears
Since 2000, TIME magazine editors have dedicated an entire issue each year to the best inventions, products, and ideas from companies around the world.
This year, Time magazine featured 300 inventions in areas such as robotics, accessibility, AI, design, health and wellness, and more in its largest list ever.
Among a select few products featured in the Consumer Electronics category are Apple’s just-released AirPods Pro 3. TIME magazine editor Chris Stokel-Walker said of his choice:
Apple AirPods Pro 3
Live translation in your earsAt a certain price point, active noise canceling earphones perform about the same. But Apple’s AirPods Pro 3, announced in September, is “a big step forward,” said John Tarnas, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering. In addition to filtering out twice the background noise compared to the previous generation AirPods Pro, tracking the wearer’s heart rate using a photoplethysmographic pulse sensor, and acting as a hearing aid when needed, the headphones’ new Live Translate feature can instantly interpret conversations between friends who speak French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, or English using Apple Intelligence. Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese are expected to arrive by the end of the year.
AirPods Pro 3 shared the Consumer Electronics category with 70mai Dash Cam 4K Omni, immersive Antigravity A1 drone camera, Belkin Stage PowerGrip, Belkin Switch 2 Charging Case, and Biwin Mini SSD.
Special Note: Apple Watch Series 11
Time magazine selected Apple Watch Series 11 in the wearable technology category, along with Axil XCOR SE, Huawei Watch GT 6 Pro, Inora Earring, RayNeo X3 Pro, and Therabody ThermBackLED among 100 products selected for special recognition.
Here’s what TIME staff said about Apple Watch Series 11.
apple watch series 11
New features to monitor blood pressureApple’s new Series 11 Watch features a new FDA-cleared hypertension detection feature that alerts users to signs of chronic hypertension. It uses data from an optical heart sensor to analyze how the user’s blood vessels respond to each heartbeat.
Other interesting picks
Beyond Apple products, TIME’s roundup includes a mix of high-profile and low-profile products and services that impacted employees and others throughout 2025. Some of them are shown below.
You can see the complete list with special mentions here.
Are you using any of the products on this year’s list? Let us know in the comments.
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