AirPods 5 costs $129, or $149 with the Wireless Charging Case, and against the second-generation AirPods from 2019 it adds Active Noise Cancellation, an IP57 water and dust rating, the H2 chip and a USB-C case. The 2019 model launched at $159 with the Charging Case and $199 with the Wireless Charging Case, was cut to $129 in October 2021, and carries no water rating on Apple’s spec page at all.
That means the entry price is the same one Apple settled on for the old model five years ago, and almost everything else about the product has changed. Every figure below comes from Apple’s tech specs pages and Apple’s press releases.
Key facts: AirPods 5 against the 2019 AirPods
| Spec | AirPods 5 | AirPods (2nd generation, 2019) |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $129, or $149 with the Wireless Charging Case | $159 or $199 at launch, cut to $129 in October 2021 |
| Chip | H2 | H1 |
| Active Noise Cancellation | Yes, in an open-ear design | No |
| Listening per charge | Up to 6 hours with noise control off, 4 hours with ANC on | Up to 5 hours |
| Total with the case | Up to 20 hours, or 22 hours on the $149 model | More than 24 hours |
| Case charging | USB-C, plus Qi and Apple Watch chargers on the $149 case | Lightning, plus Qi on the Wireless Charging Case |
| Water and dust | IP57 for buds and case | No rating listed |
| Weight | 4.3 g per bud, 32.3 g or 34.7 g case | 4 g per bud, 38.2 g case |
Apple stopped selling the second-generation AirPods some time ago, so those prices are historical. The current standard model is AirPods 5 and the current Pro is AirPods Pro 3 at $249.
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The noise cancellation the 2019 model never had
Nothing on the old spec sheet touches noise control. Apple’s press release calls AirPods 5 the first open-ear AirPods with Active Noise Cancellation at this level, rated at up to 50 percent more noise removed than AirPods 4 with ANC, and its marketing page states the same figure as up to 1.5 times the noise cancellation of the previous generation.
Apple credits a new multiport acoustic architecture inspired by AirPods Pro 3 plus improved computational audio, and the full noise-control list for AirPods 5 runs to Active Noise Cancellation, Transparency, Adaptive Audio, Conversation Awareness and Voice Isolation. The sound hardware is new too: a custom high-excursion driver, a high dynamic range amplifier, a vent system for pressure equalization and next-generation Adaptive EQ. Our AirPods 5 announcement coverage sets out what Apple claimed on stage.
Battery and charging: USB-C replaces Lightning
| Battery and charging | AirPods 5 ($129 / $149) | AirPods (2nd generation) |
|---|---|---|
| Listening per charge | 6 h / 7 h with noise control off | 5 h |
| Listening with ANC on | 4 h / 5 h | Not applicable |
| Total with the case | 20 h / 22 h | More than 24 hours |
| Quick charge | 5 minutes for around 1 hour of listening | 15 minutes for up to 3 hours of listening |
| Cable | USB-C | Lightning |
| Wireless charging | $149 case only, Qi and Apple Watch chargers | Wireless Charging Case only, Qi |
Be honest about the trade. Per charge the new model is an hour ahead with noise control off, but the old case held more than 24 hours of listening against 20 or 22 hours now, so the total shrinks. The cable changes as well, which matters if every charger in your house is still Lightning.
One more practical difference: only the $149 AirPods 5 case has a speaker, so it is the only one that can play a sound through Find My. Both AirPods 5 models get separation alerts.
The software gap is the real story
- Hands-free Siri AI, which Apple describes as access to a more powerful and personalized assistant.
- Live Translation, which needs an Apple Intelligence iPhone on the latest OS.
- Siri Interactions: nod to accept a call or message, shake your head to decline.
- Voice Isolation and studio-quality audio recording.
- Personalized Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking, and Listen together audio sharing between two sets of AirPods.
- Custom EQ, which Apple lists among the AirPods changes on its iOS 27 page.
All of that rides on the H2 chip and on iOS 27, which arrives on Monday, September 14 as a free update. The H1 generation gets none of it, and Apple has not suggested otherwise. Apple also lists 40 percent recycled material by weight for AirPods 5, a figure it did not publish for the 2019 model.
What Apple has not said
- Any comparison between AirPods 5 and the second-generation AirPods. Apple’s stated reference point is AirPods 4 with ANC.
- Talk time for either model. Both spec pages list listening hours only.
- A dust or water rating for the 2019 AirPods, which is why the table says none is listed.
- A trade-in credit for old AirPods. Apple’s trade-in page shows no per-model dollar figure.
- The colors AirPods 5 comes in. The tech specs page does not name them.
If your 2019 AirPods still work, the upgrade is about noise cancellation, water resistance and the new Siri features rather than raw battery life. AirPods 5 is on pre-order now at $129 or $149 and lands in stores on Friday, September 18 in the US and more than 65 countries, and our event live blog has the announcement as it happened.
