Photo 1 of 7
Apple AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation · Apple official supplied product photograph; complete original canvas, background and native alpha retained.
Apple · AirPods
AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation
The 2024 AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation, Adaptive Audio and a wireless charging case with a Find My speaker, suited to iPhone users who want ANC in open-ear earbuds.
- Type
- Open-ear
- Noise cancelling
- Yes
- Battery
- 4 h
- With case
- 20 h
- Best codec
- AAC
- Weight
- 4.3 g
What reviewers say
Reviewers agree the noise cancelling works surprisingly well for unsealed earbuds, though low rumble still gets through, and the sound is clean and full. What Hi-Fi? found battery life behind rivals and missed on-bud volume control; TechRadar thinks AirPods Pro 2 are the better buy at a similar price, and SoundGuys notes the open fit won't suit everyone.
From soundguys.com, whathifi.com and techradar.com
Specifications
Report a wrong or missing specSound
- Type
- Open-ear
- Noise cancelling
- Yes
- Transparency mode
- Yes
- Spatial audio with head tracking
- Yes
- Bluetooth codecs
- SBC and AAC
- Lossless over USB-C
- No
- Chip
- H2
- Drivers
- Custom high-excursion Apple driver and custom high dynamic range amplifier
- Noise cancelling detail
- Active Noise Cancellation with Adaptive Audio, Transparency mode and Conversation Awareness
- Audio features
- Personalised Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking; Adaptive EQ; Voice Isolation; Live Translation (with an iPhone 15 Pro or later running iOS 26 or later and Apple Intelligence); lossless audio with Apple Vision Pro
Battery
- Listening time (maker's claim)
- Up to 4 hours
- With the case
- Up to 20 hours
- Wireless charging
- Yes
- Battery life detail
- Up to 5 hours per charge and 30 hours with the case with noise control off
- Charging case
- Charging Case (USB-C) with speaker for Find My; charges with a USB-C cable, Apple Watch charger or Qi-certified charger
- Fast charging
- 5 minutes in the case gives around 1 hour of listening
Design
- Weight (each earbud)
- 4.3 g
- Water and sweat resistance
- IP54
- Bluetooth
- 5.3
- Controls
- Force sensor on the stems (press once to play, pause or answer a call; twice to end a call or skip forward; three times to skip back; press and hold for Siri); “Hey Siri” or just “Siri”; Siri Interactions by nodding or shaking your head
- Microphones
- Dual beamforming microphones and an inward-facing microphone; speech-detecting accelerometer
- Fit and ear tips
- Open-ear design with no ear tips
- Case weight
- 34.7 g
- Water resistance detail
- IP54 (IEC 60529) for the AirPods and charging case
- Works with
- Full features with iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV and Apple Vision Pro on the latest software; works as Bluetooth headphones with other devices, with limited features
- Colours
- White
- In the box
- AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation and Charging Case (USB-C) with speaker, documentation; USB-C cable sold separately
Pros and cons
Pros
- Active noise cancellation, Adaptive Audio and Transparency in an open-ear design
- Case charges by USB-C, Qi or an Apple Watch charger and has a speaker for Find My
- Personalised Spatial Audio with head tracking, and Live Translation added by a later update
Cons
- Up to 4 hours per charge with ANC on (20 hours with the case)
- IP54 rather than the IP57 of AirPods 5 and AirPods Pro 3
- No volume swipe on the stems
Closest rivals
Model | Type | Noise cancelling | Battery | With case | Best codec | Weight | Released |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open-ear | Yes | 5 h | 24 h | Samsung Seamless Codec | 4.6 g | Mar 2026 | |
| Open-ear | Yes | 5 h | 24 h | LDAC | 10.4 g | Jan 2026 | |
| Open-ear | Yes | 4 h | 20 h | AAC | 4.3 g | Sept 2026 |
Newer model: AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case.
Sources
- support.apple.com/en-gb/121204
- apple.com/uk/newsroom/2024/09/apple-introduces-airpods-4-and-a-hearing-health-e…
- apple.com/newsroom/2024/09/apple-introduces-airpods-4-and-a-hearing-health-expe…
- apple.com/uk/airpods/compare
- support.apple.com/en-gb/118295
- support.apple.com/en-ie/guide/apple-vision-pro/devfb04be0c/visionos
- support.apple.com/en-gb/123185
- notebookcheck.net/Apple-AirPods-4-ANC-review-Compact-design-colossal-sound.9521…
- AirPods 4 family earbuds shown above an open charging case: Apple Newsroom, Apple-AirPods-4-with-case-240909.jpg
- Mixed 2024 AirPods lineup: AirPods 4, AirPods 4 with ANC, AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Max USB-C: Apple Newsroom, Apple-AirPods-hero-240909.jpg
- AirPods 4 family earbuds in use outdoors in the supplied Siri demonstration photograph: Apple Newsroom, Apple-AirPods-Siri-and-Voice-Isolation-240909_571x321.jpg.large.jpg; complete supplied composition and background retained.
- AirPods 4 family earbud in use in a blue studio silhouette portrait: Apple Newsroom, Apple-AirPods-Active-Noise-Cancellation-240909.jpg; complete supplied composition and background retained.
- AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation charging case above an Apple Watch charger: Apple Newsroom, Apple-AirPods-wireless-charging-240909.jpg
- AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation in use on a city street: Apple Newsroom, Apple-AirPods-Active-Noise-Cancellation-video-240909_571x321.jpg.large.jpg; complete supplied composition and background retained.
