The AirPods 4 are the best value in Apple's lineup. These open-ear headphones sound good and pack some amazing tech and software features into a ridiculously small package. But that's not all; the AirPods are also a solid piece of tech and hold up well to the rigors of everyday use. Check out our AirPods 4 hands-on review where we discuss its key features, settings, and more.
Apple sells two versions of the AirPods 4. The base version costs $129 and is great for those who want the best wireless earbuds for their Apple devices but don't want to pay extra for noise-canceling features.
The upgraded AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation costs $179. In addition to the added noise-canceling capabilities, that extra $50 gets you a wireless charging case with a built-in speaker for Find My notifications.
Watch: AirPods 4 Top Features and Review
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Why Choose AirPods 4 Over AirPods Pro 2?
The AirPods 4 are more or less a slightly stripped-down version of the open-ear AirPods Pro 2, featuring a closed-back design that uses silicone ear tips that fit over your ear to create a sound seal. Closed-back ear tips are great for improving bass and improving noise cancellation, but silicone ear tips have been known to cause comfort issues for some users.
I know a few people who can’t use the AirPods Pro 2 without getting a headache because of the pressure on their ears, and that’s the main reason to choose the AirPods 4 over the AirPods Pro 2.
The second reason to choose the AirPods 4 is the cost. If you’re looking for the cheapest wireless earbuds Apple sells, there’s an entry-level version available for $129. However, consider spending the extra $50 it takes to get the AirPods 4 with ANC. That still makes them $70 cheaper than the AirPods Pro 2, though you’ll often find Apple’s flagship wireless earbuds on sale for as little as $199. It’s likely we’ll see the AirPods 4 go on sale in the future.
They just work.
As Apple’s product lineup has become more complex, it’s easy to laugh at the company’s unofficial “it just works” slogan that Steve Jobs liked to throw around in Apple keynotes in years past. Unlike some products in Apple’s portfolio, however, AirPods generally live up to that slogan, and the fourth-generation version is no exception.
It all starts with a super-simple pairing process: Place your AirPods 4 charging case near your iOS device, open it, and tap “Connect.” That’s it.
Even better, once your AirPods 4 are paired, they’ll automatically pair with all your Apple devices as long as you’re signed in with the same Apple ID and have two-factor authentication enabled. This lets you enjoy your AirPods 4 on your other Apple devices without having to go through the pairing process again.
In previous versions of the AirPods, you'll notice a setup button on the back of the case for pairing with third-party devices. AirPods 4 are the first version to do away with the setup button, and instead use a simple double-tap gesture on the front of the case with the lid open to initiate manual pairing.
In addition to being available on every device linked to your Apple ID, your AirPods seamlessly switch between devices when you start using them. For example, let’s say I’m listening to Apple Music on my iPad Pro, then I pick up my iPhone and start playing music. The AirPods 4 will automatically switch the playback source to the iPhone and notify you on the source device that the source has changed. This isn’t a new feature for the AirPods 4, but if you’re not careful, you’ll start to forget that the headphones never worked this way in the past. It’s incredibly convenient.
AirPods 4 Switching Between Devices
The AirPods 4 also work great with the Apple Vision Pro thanks to the H2 chip, which delivers ultra-low latency audio playback. But the more impressive entertainment integration is Apple TV, which lets you easily switch to AirPods when you want to watch a movie on the big screen without disturbing others.
Comfort and fit
AirPods 4 have been designed to fit more ear types, which is great for those who don’t like the feel of the earbuds used with the AirPods Pro 2. Using techniques including laser topography and 3D photogrammetry, Apple mapped thousands of ear types and generated 50 million data points to create a device that fits everyone. It’s a valiant effort, but there are about eight billion pairs of human ears on Earth, so comfort and fit may vary. Compared to the AirPods 3, the AirPods 4 seem to fit in your ears a little better and stay in place better. After a week of testing, I think the AirPods 4 are the most comfortable iteration yet, but they're a bit short of the fit and stability provided by the AirPods Pro 2's soft silicone eartips.
Controls
There are a few ways to control the AirPods 4:
- Automatic ear detection
- Stem force sensor
- Siri
- Interact with Siri
Automatic ear detection pauses playback when AirPods 4 are removed from your ears. Music will resume automatically if you put them back in your ears within 15 seconds.
You can also control AirPods 4 using the force sensor on its smaller, redesigned stem. A single press pauses or plays music, and a double or triple press skips forward or rewinds.
A long press on the force sensor on the earbuds cycles through the different noise control modes you’ve enabled in AirPods settings. You can also customize the force sensors on each earbud individually, customizing the available noise control modes, or even setting an earbud to summon Siri.
When you receive an incoming call, a single press on either earbud answers the call. During a call, you can set either earbud to mute or end the call with a single or double press.
Of course, you can also control your AirPods using Siri. Siri can be accessed via the AirPods 4 by simply saying “Hey Siri” or just “Siri.” The latter is made possible by the inclusion of the H2 chip, which has been missing from the AirPods 3 since their debut a year later with the AirPods Pro 2.
Finally, Siri Interactions is a new feature that launched with iOS 18 that lets you respond to Siri announcements with simple head gestures. Users can simply nod “yes” or shake their head “no” to respond to Siri announcements, such as answering or rejecting a call or interacting with messages or notifications.
No Touch Controls
The AirPods 4 don’t have touch controls, a feature I’ve come to love about Apple’s pro headphones. Touch controls let you swipe up or down on the AirPods Pro 2 to adjust the volume. Since the AirPods 4 only have a force sensor and not a tap sensor, you’ll need to use Siri to adjust the playback volume directly in iOS. It sounds trivial, but swiping to adjust volume is something I do all the time on the AirPods Pro 2, and I missed it more than I thought while testing the AirPods 4.
Charging and Battery Life
It’s great that the regular AirPods finally have USB-C, which may justify the upgrade for some. However, if you opt for the AirPods 4 with ANC, you’ll get the added benefit of a charging case.
Despite their smaller size, the more expensive AirPods 4 with ANC include a wireless charging case. This case can be charged using Qi-certified chargers, Apple Watch chargers, or USB-C wired charging.
The Wireless Charging Case also has a built-in speaker that plays pairing and charging sounds and receives low battery alerts. The speaker can also make a sound to help track the case using Find My. Speaking of Find My support, the AirPods 4 Wireless Charging Case does not have the U1 Ultra Wideband chip that gives the AirPods Pro 2 case its spatial precision capabilities.
With ANC turned off, the AirPods 4 are rated for the same battery life as its predecessor: up to 5 hours for the earbuds. Despite being 10% smaller in volume, the case delivers the same “up to” 30 hours of total listening time when using the charging case.
Battery life does drop when using ANC; however, given that the individual earbuds are rated for 4 hours — a reduction of about 20% — and up to 20 hours when using the charging case, that's a reduction of about 40%. I've been testing the earbuds for the past week, and Apple's battery rating seems conservative based on my experience. I got closer to 5 hours for the individual earbuds when using ANC, which came out to about 35 hours when using the charging case. Of course, your mileage may vary depending on how you use your earbuds. My testing wasn't scientific, but battery life didn't seem to be an issue for me based on how I use my AirPods day in and day out.
Sound and Call Quality
Sound quality is very subjective, but in my opinion, the AirPods 4 sound noticeably better than their predecessors. This shouldn't be surprising, since they've been redesigned with an updated acoustic architecture paired with a new driver and amplifier.
Apple notes that the highs benefit from the extra clarity, and I agree. Listening to Regina Spektor’s Us sounds crisp and clear in the midrange, and when she hits the high notes right after the violins, it’s especially exciting.
Don’t expect the deep bass that the AirPods Pro 2 earbuds make possible, but the improvement in sound quality was noticeable in the lower frequencies, too. You have to make sure the earbuds are firmly in your ears to notice the difference, but it’s there.
AirPods have been around for almost eight years now, but we shouldn’t lose sight of how impressive these things are sonically. Getting such good sound quality from such a small acoustic footprint is still a remarkable achievement all these years later.
Microphone quality during phone calls is also a focus point on the AirPods 4, as Apple has introduced Voice Isolation support directly to the AirPods. Previously available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac, Voice Isolation uses the H2 chip and machine learning models to help remove background noise while naturally enhancing voice quality. Those on the other end of your phone call should notice a noticeable improvement in call quality when talking in noisy places.
FaceTime calls also get their share of love with the AirPods 4. When you’re on a Group FaceTime call, the addition of dynamic head tracking makes it feel like you’re in the same room as your friends and family.
Noise Management
Active noise control in an open-back headphone design is nothing new, but this is my first time trying it. I was skeptical about how good these earbuds would be, but after trying the $179 AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation, I’m convinced.
I knew ANC would work with the AirPods 4; otherwise, Apple wouldn’t have made it. But I didn’t think it would be this good for earbuds without an acoustic seal. The noise-canceling properties of the open-back AirPods 4 aren’t as powerful as the closed-back AirPods Pro 2, which also use an inward-facing microphone to listen to your ears for unwanted internal sounds to cancel them out, but they’re still outstanding.
Even though it was 80 degrees outside, I turned on my Ceramic Heater and placed it on the table next to my ears. While the heater isn’t overly loud, it does make a distracting hum. After turning on Noise Canceling, I expected the noise to be reduced, but I didn’t expect it to be so quiet. I could still hear the heater, but it seemed farther away and less distracting. If I had music playing, I probably wouldn’t have heard it at all. Then I turned off ANC, and wow, the noise from the heater was louder than I thought. That’s the beauty of ANC: You don’t have to blast your music to compensate for a noisy environment.
Noise Canceling is just one of the Noise Control features found on the AirPods 4. There’s also Transparency Mode, which lets in outside sounds while reducing the intensity of loud sounds like ambulance sirens. Transparency is useful when you need to be aware of your surroundings, like when listening to announcements at an airport or on public transportation.
Adaptive modeis like a mix of noise cancellation and transparency. It dynamically allows outside noise or suppresses noise based on your environment. You can customize this feature through the AirPods settings to prioritize less or more noise.
Personalized volume— This is a great feature that dynamically adjusts your media volume based on your environment. To test, I started playing a song at 33% volume in a quiet environment. I then turned on the heater and watched as the volume automatically increased in Control Center to accommodate the competing noise source while trying to stay at a relative volume. The opposite is true, too. The media volume will decrease if the environment you’re in gets quieter. The cool thing is that the AirPods are smart enough to know that your voice isn’t a source of “noise” that would cause the volume to change.
But Conversation Awarenesssuch a feature. When you start speaking, the media volume automatically decreases until your conversation ends. Like some of the other features discussed, Conversation Awareness was added to the AirPods Pro 2 via a firmware update that matches last year’s release of iOS 17. The AirPods Pro 2 were released in 2022 and continue to receive significant updates one and two years after their debut. The AirPods 4 you own today can also improve over time with similar firmware updates.
Personalized Spatial Audio
AirPods 4 support personalized spatial audio, which delivers immersive 3D audio. The concept is similar to a home theater surround sound setup, but instead of physical devices, AirPods can virtually project sound so that it appears to be coming from different directions in 3D space.
Using the TrueDepth camera on your iPhone, the Personal Spatial Audio setting creates a customized profile using the geometry of your head, giving you a personalized listening experience. What’s great is that you only have to do this once, as the profile syncs across all your devices.
You’ll find many albums in Apple Music that feature Dolby Atmos mixes, which provide a unique listening experience compared to a stereo mix. Listen to Portugal The Man’s “Feel It Still” in head-tracked Dolby Atmos, and you’ll immediately hear how immersive spatial audio can be when listening to music. Apple also introduced Personal Spatial Audio for games in iOS 18, which AirPods 4 can use.
Longevity
I remember killing a pair of first-generation AirPods when they got soaked in sweat. Subsequent versions have gotten more durable, but the AirPods 4 are better than the previous three generations. The AirPods 4 are also IP54 rated, meaning they protect against dust, water, and sweat. If you sweat as much as I do during workouts, you’ll appreciate the improvement in this area.
I put my AirPods Pro 2 to the ultimate test by randomly washing and drying them. To my surprise, they still worked. That was six months ago, and my AirPods Pro 2 are still working like new.
Best comment from Inkling
Thank you for such a detailed review. My opinion of AirPods has certainly improved over the past few years since I initially scoffed at how easy it was for them to fall out and get lost.
But there are batteries. I am at the limit of hearing. I can understand most people. Only high voices and quiet speakers cause problems. Someone gave me their hearing aids when they upgraded. They help, and one of the best features is their tiny hearing aid batteries. They are not rechargeable, but with normal use they last a week. They cost about 30 cents a piece, and I can change them in seconds.
I understand why Apple uses rechargeable batteries for entertainment. It's no big deal when the batteries run out. You just go without music. The same is not true for hearing aids. They are necessary. You can't just walk away from a conversation.
Longevity matters, too. My hearing aids are eight years old. If they ran on batteries, they would have died long ago. That’s why professional hearing aids typically use coin-cell batteries. They’re reliable and predictable. If you’re doing something where they need to work, like going out to dinner or having a business meeting, you just pop in new ones.
As Apple moves into hearing aids, they need to seriously consider following the market and having a model with easy-to-replace batteries. Their customers will thank them.
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AirPods are also known for their overall durability. I haven’t put my AirPods 4 through a lot of testing yet, but I’ve probably dropped the case and AirPods Pro 2 earbuds at least a hundred times on a variety of surfaces, including the unforgiving concrete of my driveway. No matter how much abuse I put my AirPods Pro 2 through, they still work. I suspect the AirPods 4 will be the same.
9to5Mac's Take
The great thing about AirPods is that not only do they just work, they're the best wireless earbuds for an Apple device, and they include innovative noise-canceling features, but they'll likely only get better over time.
Apple has updated the AirPods Pro 2 numerous times with new features, and we'll even be getting a hearing aid feature via an update soon, even though that's exclusive to the AirPods Pro 2. I'm hoping we'll get similar updates for the AirPods 4 over time, and given Apple's track record, I think that's a good bet.
What do you think of the AirPods 4? Let us know in the comments!
