AirPods 4

The AirPods 4 split Apple's standard earbuds into two versions for the first time, which made choosing between them the main decision for buyers. 

The basic pair cost $129, making them the cheapest AirPods Apple had ever sold. For $179 you got the same earbuds plus Active Noise Cancellation, the feature that uses tiny microphones to detect noise around you and cancel it out, which until then had only been offered on the pricier Pro models. Between them the two versions replaced both the AirPods 2 and the AirPods 3, which were discontinued at the same time.

Apple reshaped the earbuds themselves, using scans of thousands of ears to design a shorter stem and a contour meant to sit comfortably in a wider range of ear shapes. They kept the open design with no rubber tips pushed into the ear canal. The charging case shrank by around 10 percent and switched to USB-C, replacing Apple's older Lightning connector. Battery life came in at about five hours of listening per charge, or four hours with noise cancellation switched on, and roughly 30 hours in total once you counted recharges from the case.

Both versions used Apple's H2 chip, the same one in the AirPods Pro at the time, which brought faster pairing, clearer call quality in noisy places, and the ability to answer Siri by nodding or shaking your head rather than speaking. The $179 version added a few extras on top: Adaptive Audio, which adjusts noise cancellation automatically as your surroundings change, Conversation Awareness, which lowers the volume when you start talking to someone, and a case that could be charged wirelessly and could play a sound to help you find it if it went missing. 

They were announced on 9 September 2024, and went on sale on 20 September 2024.