AirPods 4 sold Active Noise Cancellation in only one of its two models. AirPods 5, announced at Apple's September 9 event, put it in both, and Apple claims the open-ear ANC removes up to 50 percent more external noise than AirPods 4 with ANC did. That one move is most of the product. Live Translation runs on ANC and computational audio, so it reaches the entry pair too, and Apple now calls it available across the entire AirPods lineup.
The shared upgrades borrow from AirPods Pro 3, by Apple's own description: a multiport acoustic architecture and next-generation Adaptive EQ, a Transparency mode that handles nearby voices more naturally, and Conversation Awareness, which ducks the music when you start talking. Dust, sweat, and water resistance improve on both pairs as well.
The five-hour battery figure belongs to one model. Apple puts the redesigned battery under AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case alone: up to five hours with ANC on, an hour more than AirPods 4 with ANC, and 22 hours with the case, which charges over USB-C, Qi, or an Apple Watch charger. The same model gets the force sensor and stem volume swipe from AirPods Pro, a first for open-ear AirPods per Apple. For the base pair, the release lists no battery figure at all.
The hands-free pitch leans on Siri AI, which arrives as a beta (Siri, again) with iOS 27 on September 14, in English first and with French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish due in October, and it needs an Apple Intelligence-capable iPhone. Live Translation has the same requirement: set it up in the Translate app, download the languages, then start it with a press on both stems, a Siri command, or the Action button. iPhoners on an iPhone without Apple Intelligence get the ANC and the new sound and none of the translation. For my money that's still the better half of the upgrade.
Pre-orders opened on September 9 in the US and more than 65 other countries, and both models reach stores on Friday, September 18. The AirPods 4 arrangement, ANC on one model and not the other, lasted exactly one generation.
