Huge news, AirPods lovers: the Apple AirPods 4 are finally here – in two variants! On top of that, Apple has unveiled significant. updates across the entire AirPods lineup. The AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation just made their entrance at Apple’s much-vaunted It’s Glowtime iPhone 16 event and, in addition to a fresh lineup of handsets from the Cupertino giant, two brand new pairs of ice-white buds has landed.
We shouldn’t be surprised; Apple’s biggest AirPods launch to date was prophesized earlier in the year, as was the customizable noise-cancellation we all wanted from our AirPods, thanks to iOS 18.
So here we are! Here’s the full scoop from Apple Park (yes, we’ve got our people on the ground – but if you need to catch up, our Glowtime live-blog is the place to go).
Oh, and in case you came here looking for them, the cheaper pair is likely the hotly-anticipated AirPods Lite. Meanwhile, the AirPods Pro 3 haven’t landed, but there have been several updates to the software. And although new AirPods Max did land (to a degree) Apple Park shindig, it’s not the lossless audio support we might have hoped for.
That said, we’ll take one all-new set of AirPods over none at all (we’ve been waiting a while).
AirPods 4: the dual AirPods release you need to know about
The design is… well, at a glance, it’s just another day at the office for Apple (and if you wanted the purple colorway Apple once planned, you’ll be disappointed) but Apple has worked extensively on its open-ear sizing, developing over 50 million size mapping charts, and there’s an “all new acoustic architecture” in what Apple’s calling its “best open-ear AirPods design ever”.
Specs-wise, the headline-grabber is the inclusion of Apple’s H2 chip, which means support for active noise cancellation in the step-up set (for the first time in non-Pro AirPods) plus support for Conversation Awareness and wireless charging support in the case – which now also contains a speaker for easier Find My support.
Battery life was one area ripe for improvement in 2024 across Apple’s pioneering earbuds, and Tim Cook‘s behemoth has… well, been a little quiet about the stamina within these new Spatial Audio-supporting headphones. But we’ll report more when we hear about it.
Pricing? Of course – it’s a big factor when considering whether to buy a new set of AirPods. You won’t be shocked to learn that while they might well land in our best noise cancelling earbuds guide soon, neither is a set of budget wireless earbuds. That said, they’re not ridiculously expensive either, at $179 for the active noise-cancelling set (so probably £169 / AU$279) and $129 for the entry-level AirPods 4.
Availability? Stick with us, we’ll update you as soon as we have that.
Given that the 2021-launch AirPods 3 arrived priced at $179 / £169 / AU$279 and the late-2022 issue AirPods Pro 2 landed with an asking fee of $249 / £249 / AU$399, it’s (dare we say it?) sensible pricing from Apple. Because Apple.
You may also like
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/apcroo3T66fj6Z9tBGfngT-1200-80.jpg
Source link
becky.scarrott@futurenet.com (Becky Scarrott)
