AirPods 4 vs AirPods 5

Apple announced AirPods 4 on 9 September 2024 at $129 and $179, and AirPods 5 on 9 September 2026 at $129 and $149. The starting price didn’t move; what it buys did. In 2024, noise cancellation was the reason to pay $50 more. In 2026 it’s standard, and the $20 step up is about the case.

Four models, side by side

Spec	AirPods 4	AirPods 4 with ANC	AirPods 5	AirPods 5, wireless case
US launch price	$129	$179	$129	$149
Announced	9 September 2024	9 September 2024	9 September 2026	9 September 2026
Noise cancellation	No	Yes	Yes, up to 1.5 times AirPods 4 with ANC, Apple says	Same as AirPods 5
Transparency, Adaptive Audio, Conversation Awareness	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Buds, noise cancellation on	No ANC	Up to 4 hours	Up to 4 hours	Up to 5 hours
Buds, noise control off	Up to 5 hours	Up to 5 hours	Up to 6 hours	Up to 7 hours
With the case	Up to 30 hours	Up to 20 hours with ANC; up to 30 off	Up to 20 hours with ANC	Up to 22 hours with ANC
Water and dust	IP54, buds and case	IP54, buds and case	IP57, buds and case	IP57, buds and case
Case charging	USB-C	USB-C, Apple Watch charger or Qi	USB-C	USB-C, Apple Watch charger or Qi
Find My speaker in the case	No	Yes, iOS 26 or later	No	Yes, iOS 27 or later
Volume swipe	No	No	No	Yes
Case weight	32.3 g	34.7 g	32.3 g	34.7 g

Noise cancellation is no longer the upgrade

With AirPods 4 the choice was simple: $129 bought an open pair with no noise cancellation, and $179 added Active Noise Cancellation, Adaptive Audio, Transparency and Conversation Awareness. AirPods 5 has all four on both models. If you’re replacing a $129 AirPods 4, the new $129 pair is a different kind of product, not a refresh.

From the $179 AirPods 4 the step is smaller. Apple says AirPods 5 removes up to 50 percent more outside noise than AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation, which it also expresses as 1.5 times, measured to the IEC 60268-24 standard. That’s Apple’s claim against its own previous model; there’s no decibel figure for either generation, and it isn’t a comparison with AirPods Pro. Voice Isolation for calls is on both generations.

Which AirPods 5: $129 or $149

Both AirPods 5 models have the same buds and the same noise cancellation, so the $20 between them pays for the case and the stems. The $149 model adds:

• An hour more on the buds: up to 5 hours with noise cancellation against 4, or 7 against 6 with noise control off, and up to 22 hours with the case against 20.
• Wireless charging. Apple lists Apple Watch chargers and Qi chargers for it, not MagSafe.
• Volume swipe on the stem, which Apple says is a first for open-ear AirPods.
• A speaker in the case, so Find My can make it play a sound. That needs iOS 27 or later.

The $129 case charges over USB-C only and weighs 32.3 grams; the wireless case weighs 34.7 grams. If you’d use none of those four extras, the $129 model has everything that makes AirPods 5 the better buy.

Battery against AirPods 4

With noise cancellation on, the $129 AirPods 5 matches the $179 AirPods 4: up to 4 hours on the buds and 20 with the case. The $149 model adds an hour on the buds and two with the case.

With noise control off, AirPods 5 lasts longer on the buds, 6 or 7 hours against 5. AirPods 4 still has the only 30-hour case figure, on the $129 model, which has no noise cancellation to drain it, and on the $179 model with noise control off. Apple doesn’t give AirPods 5 a case figure with noise control off.

Five minutes in any of these cases gives about an hour of listening. Apple ran the two generations’ battery tests two years apart, so read small gaps loosely.

Same fit, tougher rating

Nothing about the fit changed. Both are one-size open stems with no tips or wings; each bud weighs 4.3 grams and measures 30.2 × 18.3 × 18.1 millimeters, and every case here is 46.2 × 50.1 × 21.2 millimeters. If AirPods 4 kept falling out of your ears, AirPods 5 brings no new shape or tips to fix that. None of the cases has an ultra-wideband chip.

What did change is the rating: IP54 on AirPods 4 and IP57 on AirPods 5, buds and case on both. IP57 still doesn’t make AirPods 5 swim-proof, and Apple notes that the resistance can wear down over time; let them dry before you charge them.

Live Translation and Siri AI

Live Translation works on AirPods 5 and, of the AirPods 4 models, only on the noise-cancelling one, paired with an iPhone with Apple Intelligence on iOS 26 or later. It’s a beta, and some languages and regions are left out.

AirPods 5 adds Siri AI, a beta in iOS 27. It arrives in English first, isn’t available at first in the EU on iOS, iPadOS and watchOS, and isn’t for users under 13. Apple says hands-free Siri works on all AirPods, and both generations let you nod or shake your head to answer Siri and press the stem as a camera remote.

When to skip both

If Hearing Aid is the goal, neither is the answer; Apple offers it on AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3. The same goes if open stems don’t stay in your ears, since ear tips come only with the sealed Pro.

Skip both, too, if you’re on Android and want LDAC or a full app. Apple lists no codecs for either generation, and paired with other phones they’re Bluetooth headphones with limited features. Full features need a current iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV or Vision Pro, and automatic switching follows your Apple Account instead of offering a two-device multipoint setting.

Before you buy

A cheap AirPods 4 is the $129 model without noise cancellation unless the seller’s title says Active Noise Cancellation. Against AirPods 5 at the same $129, it needs a real discount to make sense.

AirPods 4 came without a USB-C cable in the box, and Apple lists none for AirPods 5 either. Apple shows both in white. Prices move, so check apple.com before you buy.