All products featured are independently chosen by us. However, SoundGuys may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links. See our ethics statement.
AirPods 4: Everything you need to know about Apple's newest earbuds
- Apple has announced not one, but two new AirPods: the AirPods 4, and AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation.
- The AirPods 4 come in at a cheaper price than their predecessor, at only $129.
- The AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation control environmental noise, for a price of $179.
The AirPods 4 have arrived, and they come in two offerings. For the same starting price of the AirPods (3rd generation), you can now get the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation. One of our major complaints about all three prior generations of AirPods has been their limited usability in noisy environments. With the addition of noise canceling, the AirPods 4 should be more versatile than their predecessors when it comes to listening in a variety of environments.
The AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation also have a Transparency mode to amplify surrounding noise. With the Conversation Awareness feature, the earbuds will automatically lower the volume of your media and switch from ANC to Transparency when you start talking, making it easy to hold a conversation without taking off the earbuds. There is also an Adaptive Audio feature, which automatically adjusts the strength of the noise canceling based on surrounding noise.
That said, you’ll have to wait until we get the new AirPods into our testing lab to see if the noise canceling is actually effective. Other brands have tried adding ANC to open earbuds, with limited success. If you really care about blocking out noise, the AirPods Pro (2nd generation) are still the best option, especially with their new hearing protection features coming this year. The Apple AirPods 4 may have a new design, but as we’ve pointed out, the shape of AirPods wasn’t the issue.
If you don’t care about noise canceling, you’ll be happy to hear that Apple also has a cheaper version of its latest AirPods. You can get the standard AirPods 4 for only $129, which makes them the least expensive AirPods ever.
Both the regular AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation come with a host of upgrades over the AirPods (3rd generation). Apple has redesigned the shape of the earbuds, which promises a more comfortable and secure fit. Using 50 million data points, Apple states that these AirPods are an accurate representation of the shape of most people’s ears. The consequences of a poor fit are drastic for earbuds, so we’re excited to see if the new AirPods outperform other open earbuds when it comes to getting a secure fit.
The AirPods 4 also have a smaller charging case than their predecessors. Despite that, the AirPods 4 promise up to 30 hours of total battery life from the earbuds and case. The AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation case now also has a speaker embedded in it, which will play a tone to help you find it if you lose it under a pile of pillows. You can also charge the case with a wireless charger or Apple Watch charger, in addition to MagSafe and USB-C.
With the addition of the H2 chip, the AirPods 4 are now capable of many features previously only available on the AirPods Pro (2nd generation). This includes the ability to nod your head up and down or side to side to accept or decline a call, or a notification from Siri.
Of course, sound quality is the number one thing most people look for when choosing which earbuds to buy. Apple has updated the acoustic architecture of the AirPods 4, which promises major upgrades to sound quality. We’ll be sure to upload all of our testing data as soon as we get the new AirPods into our lab.
The Apple AirPods 4 and Apple AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation are available starting September 20. Unfortunately, both are still only available in a white color option. So, what do you think of the AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation? Let us know which you would buy.