Apple is building a computer you wear, one body part at a time.

AirPods Pro 3 already track heart rate from inside your ear canal, using infrared sensors that pulse 256 times per second. When you wear both Watch and AirPods, Apple picks the more accurate reading. Major arteries run closer to your ear than your wrist, so it's a better place to read your pulse.

AirPods Pro 3 are also FDA-cleared hearing aids. Apple put that on the product page as a stand-out feature. The $249 earbuds people buy for noise cancellation are turning into medical devices.

A rumored AirPods Ultra would take that further. The Pro 3's eight hours with ANC is excellent for earbuds, and plenty of people already use them as hearing aids during the parts of the day they need help. The limit is battery life. An aid you take out halfway through the day to charge is not a full replacement for a prescription device that runs from morning to bedtime. All-day battery, constant sensing, and the kind of testing audiologists do are what would separate AirPods from a hearing assist into something that competes with a dedicated medical device.

AirPods Pro 3 at $249. AirPods Max 2 at $549. The Max are over-ear, heavy, built for sitting still. An in-ear product priced between them, with room for sensors the Pro 3 can't fit, would have a place to land.

Apple is building a computer you wear, one body part at a time. The wrist came first. The eyes started at $3,499 and get smaller in 2027. The ear is next.