AirPods 5 to Launch as Early as Next Month - MacRumors
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AirPods 5 to Launch as Early as Next Month

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airpods 4 new new orangeApple is planning to announce two new AirPods 5 models as early as Wednesday, September 9, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Like the AirPods 4, the AirPods 5 will be available with and without active noise cancellation, he said.

AirPods 5 references were already discovered in macOS 26.7 Release Candidate code last week, and the report said they could be unveiled at this year's iPhone event. There is no word on how the AirPods 5 will differ from the AirPods 4, which launched in September 2024. In the U.S., AirPods 4 are priced at $129 to $179.

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Top Rated Comments

M
MaaK
3 weeks ago
All they need and that I missed from Gen 4 which left me with my Pros is the volume slider on the stems. If they get this, I will happily say goodbye to my AirPods Pro.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
S
segfaultdotorg
3 weeks ago
What about the new AirPros?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PsykX Avatar
PsykX
3 weeks ago
My AirPods 4 with ANC are pure perfection so...
I'm not interested, but they have my curiosity.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
zakarhino Avatar
zakarhino
3 weeks ago

All they need and that I missed from Gen 4 which left me with my Pros is the volume slider on the stems. If they get this, I will happily say goodbye to my AirPods Pro.
Same. The reason I think this will happen is because of the trickle down pattern: AirPods Pro gets the newest features first, the base AirPods get it when the APP has something new to offer.

My working theory is this the headline new capability for this year's AirPods Pro is support for "spatial awareness" (ahem, NOT Visual Intelligence or anything that could be misconstrued as a 'camera') -- so possibly air gestures, 3D awareness of the space around you to enhance Spatial Audio (ripped from Vision Pro), and maybe some kind of enhancement to the conversational awareness feature with beam forming to 'figure out' who's talking to you and only let their voice break the noise cancellation bubble.

The "Visual Intelligence" AirPods Pro will come later or never at all. That's what I think the deal is with the supposed two separate models of the "Camera AirPods" being tested. One is what everyone's freaking out about, AirPods with an actual camera capable of taking RGB photos for Visual Intelligence. The other just uses the same LiDAR/IR stuff Vision Pro uses for room mapping and gestures -- not something the public could interpret as a wearable with cameras the same way they (rightfully) freak out about Meta's glasses.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
S
svish
3 weeks ago
Don't think there will be a price increase. Waiting to see the improvements it will offer.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
D
Dead0k
3 weeks ago
would be good to a have a volume slider on the body of airpods. On 4th version - it annoys me that I have to ask Siri to increase a volume
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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