AirPods 5 costs $129, or $149 with the Wireless Charging Case, and it adds Active Noise Cancellation, an IP57 water rating and the H2 chip to the open-ear shape AirPods 3 introduced in 2021. AirPods 3 launched at $179 with a MagSafe case, runs the older H1 chip, and Apple’s spec sheet for it records no noise cancellation at all.
The catch for AirPods 3 owners is battery life. Apple rates AirPods 3 at up to 6 hours of listening and up to 30 hours with the case, while AirPods 5 is rated at up to 4 hours with noise cancellation on and up to 20 hours in total. Every figure here comes from Apple’s tech specs pages and Apple’s press releases.
Key facts: AirPods 5 against AirPods 3
| Spec | AirPods 5 | AirPods 3 (2021) |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $129, or $149 with the Wireless Charging Case | $179 with the MagSafe case, $169 for the 2022 Lightning-case version |
| Chip | H2 | H1 |
| Active Noise Cancellation | Yes, in an open-ear design | No |
| Listening, noise control off | Up to 6 hours, or 7 hours on the $149 model | Up to 6 hours, or 5 hours with Personalized Spatial Audio |
| Listening, ANC on | Up to 4 hours, or 5 hours on the $149 model | Not applicable |
| Total with the case | Up to 20 hours, or 22 hours on the $149 model | Up to 30 hours |
| Water and dust | IP57 for buds and case | IPX4 for buds and case |
| Weight | 4.3 g per bud, 32.3 g or 34.7 g case | 4.28 g per bud, 37.91 g case |
Apple no longer sells AirPods 3, so the $179 and $169 figures are launch prices from Apple’s 2021 and 2022 press releases rather than something you can pay at the Apple Store today.
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What noise cancellation actually adds
This is the headline change, and Apple frames it carefully. The press release calls AirPods 5 the first open-ear AirPods with Active Noise Cancellation at this level and says it removes up to 50 percent more noise than AirPods 4 with ANC, a claim Apple’s marketing page also writes as up to 1.5 times more noise cancellation than the previous generation.
The hardware behind it is a new multiport acoustic architecture that Apple says is inspired by AirPods Pro 3, working with improved computational audio. Apple’s noise-control list for AirPods 5 covers Active Noise Cancellation, Transparency, Adaptive Audio, Conversation Awareness and Voice Isolation. Nothing in that list appears on the AirPods 3 specification. Our AirPods 5 announcement coverage goes through the acoustic changes in more detail.
Battery and charging: a tie per charge, a loss in the case
| Battery and charging | AirPods 5 ($129 / $149) | AirPods 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Listening, noise control off | 6 h / 7 h | 6 h |
| Listening, ANC on | 4 h / 5 h | Not applicable |
| Total with the case | 20 h / 22 h | 30 h |
| 5 minutes in the case | Around 1 hour of listening | Around 1 hour of listening |
| Case charging | USB-C only / USB-C, Apple Watch charger, Qi | MagSafe, Qi and Lightning, or Lightning only on the 2022 case |
| Case speaker for Find My | No / Yes | Not listed |
With noise cancellation off, the new model matches AirPods 3 at 6 hours and beats it at 7 hours on the $149 version. Turn the noise cancellation on and you give up two hours per charge against the 2021 model, and the with-case total falls by 8 to 10 hours either way.
Charging is the other thing to check before you buy. Apple lists MagSafe for the AirPods 3 case but not for either AirPods 5 case, so an AirPods 3 owner with a MagSafe puck should plan on USB-C, or pay $20 more for the case that also takes Qi pads and Apple Watch chargers.
Software: the H2 chip and iOS 27
Moving from H1 to H2 is what unlocks the new software list. Apple’s AirPods 5 pages list hands-free Siri AI, Live Translation, Siri Interactions for nodding yes or shaking your head no, Voice Isolation, studio-quality audio recording, Listen together audio sharing, Find My with separation alerts, next-generation Adaptive EQ and Personalized Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking. Live Translation and Siri AI need an Apple Intelligence iPhone running iOS 27, which ships on Monday, September 14.
AirPods 3 already supported Personalized Spatial Audio, which is why Apple published a separate 5-hour rating for it. Apple has not said which, if any, of the new AirPods features reach AirPods 3, so an owner should assume none of them.
What Apple has not said
- Any direct noise or sound-quality comparison between AirPods 5 and AirPods 3. Apple’s reference point is AirPods 4 with ANC.
- Talk time for either model. Both spec pages give listening hours only.
- The colors AirPods 5 comes in. They are not listed on the tech specs page.
- A trade-in credit for AirPods 3. Apple’s trade-in page shows no per-model dollar value.
- Whether any iOS 27 AirPods feature comes to the H1 generation.
The next step is simple. AirPods 5 is on pre-order now at $129 or $149 and reaches stores on Friday, September 18 in the US and more than 65 countries, the same day iPhone 18 Pro goes on sale. If your AirPods 3 case still holds a charge and you never wanted noise cancellation, there is no battery argument for switching, and the event recap lists what else Apple refreshed this week.
