AirPods 5 costs $129, or $149 with the Wireless Charging Case, and Apple’s tech specs rate it at up to 4 hours of listening with Active Noise Cancellation switched on. AirPods Pro 2 launched at $249 in September 2022, is rated at up to 6 hours with ANC on, and Apple no longer sells it.
So this is not a choice between two products on the same Store page. It is a choice between the open-ear model Apple ships on Friday, September 18 and a sealed in-ear Pro that has been replaced twice over. Every figure below comes from Apple’s tech specs pages and Apple’s press releases.
Key facts: AirPods 5 and AirPods Pro 2 side by side
| Spec | AirPods 5 | AirPods Pro 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $129, or $149 with the Wireless Charging Case | $249 at launch in 2022, not sold by Apple now |
| Chip | H2 | H2, plus a U1 chip in the MagSafe case |
| Fit | Open ear, no tips | Sealed in ear, silicone tips |
| Listening, ANC on | Up to 4 hours, or 5 hours on the $149 model | Up to 6 hours |
| 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 on Apple’s spec page, IP54 for the USB-C case on Apple’s compare page |
| Earbud weight | 4.3 g each | 5.3 g each |
| Case weight | 32.3 g, or 34.7 g with the speaker | 50.8 g |
Noise cancellation: an open ear against a sealed tip
The two models cancel noise in completely different ways. AirPods Pro 2 seals the ear canal with a silicone tip, the approach every Pro model uses. AirPods 5 keeps the open shape of standard AirPods, and Apple’s press release credits its noise cancellation to a new multiport acoustic architecture inspired by AirPods Pro 3 plus improved computational audio.
Don’t miss the best of The Mac Observer
Set us as a preferred source and our Apple reporting ranks higher in your Google Search results and Discover feed — one tap, no account changes.
Apple’s published comparison is with AirPods 4 with ANC, not with any Pro. The press release says AirPods 5 removes up to 50 percent more noise than AirPods 4 with ANC, and Apple’s marketing page phrases the same claim as up to 1.5 times more Active Noise Cancellation than the previous generation, alongside a broader boast about the best noise cancellation in an open-ear design. There is no Apple figure that ranks AirPods 5 against AirPods Pro 2, so treat the open-ear ANC as a large step up for standard AirPods rather than a stand-in for a sealed Pro. Our AirPods 5 announcement coverage has the full feature list.
Battery and charging: where the older Pro still leads
| Battery figure | AirPods 5 ($129 / $149) | AirPods Pro 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Listening, ANC on | 4 h / 5 h | 6 h |
| Listening, noise control off | 6 h / 7 h | Not listed on Apple’s spec page |
| Spatial Audio with head tracking | Not listed separately | 5.5 h |
| 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, Apple Watch charger, Qi, Lightning, or USB-C on the 2023 case |
Read that table and the trade is clear. The 2022 Pro is rated for two more hours per charge with noise cancellation running and eight to ten more hours in total, and its MagSafe case accepts more charging methods than either AirPods 5 case. AirPods 5 answers with a lighter earbud, a lighter case and the higher water rating.
Features AirPods 5 has that AirPods Pro 2 does not
- Live Translation, which Apple lists for AirPods 5 and requires an Apple Intelligence iPhone on the latest OS.
- Hands-free Siri AI, described by Apple as access to a more powerful and personalized assistant.
- Siri Interactions: nod your head to accept, shake it to decline.
- Voice Isolation and studio-quality audio recording.
- IP57 dust, sweat and water resistance, against IPX4 on Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 spec page.
- A force sensor with swipe volume control, on the $149 model only.
The traffic runs the other way on hearing health. Apple’s September 2024 press release introduced a hearing health experience for AirPods Pro 2, and Apple’s specs list a Hearing Test, Hearing Aid and Hearing Protection for AirPods Pro 3. None of those three appear in the AirPods 5 specification, and neither does a heart rate sensor. The software list for AirPods 5 lines up with iOS 27, which arrives on Monday, September 14.
What Apple has not said
- Any direct noise-cancellation comparison between AirPods 5 and AirPods Pro 2.
- Talk time for either model. Both spec pages list listening hours only.
- Which of the new iOS 27 AirPods features, if any, reach AirPods Pro 2.
- 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 list them.
The practical next step: if you own AirPods Pro 2 and value battery life and a sealed fit, Apple’s own numbers argue for keeping it, and the current sealed option is AirPods Pro 3 at $249. If you want open-ear comfort with noise cancellation, 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 full event recap covers everything else Apple announced the same morning.
