The 4th generation of AirPods, one of the most successful Bluetooth headphones in history has been updated in Apple’s September 2024 event. Design-wise, nothing much has changed, but Apple added new features including Active Noise Cancellation.
What’s New
Here’s what’s new for the baseline AirPods:
- Active Noise Cancellation: For an extra $50, you get AirPods with an Active Noise Cancellation feature. Because the normal AirPods do not have an ear cup like the Pro counterpart, the feature will work, but not at the level of AirPods Pro.
- H2 chip: The AirPods now come with the H2 chip, ensuring better performance in voice isolation, Hey Siri recognition, and Active Noise Cancellation
- Speaker for Find My: On the AirPods with noise cancellation, the AirPods case has a speaker to help you find your AirPods with the Find My app.
- Redesigned: Despite the similar look, Apple insists that the AirPods have been redesigned to give a better fit to more kinds of ears. Furthermore, the case which previously had a button for Bluetooth pairing is now gone and replaced with a hidden touch sensor located next to the charge indicator LED.
That is it for AirPods 4. Other features like spatial audio are available on the AirPods 4. Lossless audio curiously is missing on the AirPods although it uses the same chip as the AirPods Pro 2 which is capable of doing so.
Plug
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| Base | Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| iPhones | iPhone 16 / iPhone 16 Plus - (Amazon) | iPhone 16 Pro / iPhone 16 Pro Max - (Amazon) |
| Watch | Apple Watch SE (Amazon) / Apple Watch Series 10 | Apple Watch Ultra 2 (Amazon) |
| AirPods | AirPods 4 (Amazon) | AirPods Pro 2 (Amazon) / AirPods Max (Amazon) |
| iPad | iPad 10 (Amazon) / iPad Mini (Amazon) | iPad Air M2 (Amazon) / iPad Pro M4 (Amazon) |
| Laptops | MacBook Air M3 (Amazon) | MacBook Pro M3 (Amazon) / MacBook Pro M3 Pro/Max (Amazon) |
| Desktop | Mac Mini (Amazon) / iMac (Amazon) | Mac Studio / Mac Pro |
| Displays | Studio Display (Amazon) | Pro Display XDR (Amazon) |
Other Ecosystem Items