Apple now sells five in-ear and open-ear AirPods: AirPods 4, AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation, AirPods 5, AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case and AirPods Pro 3. Every one of them runs on the H2 chip and Bluetooth 5.3, and every one gets around 1 hour of listening from a five-minute charge. What separates them is battery, water rating, case charging and the health features, and Apple’s tech specs pages lay it all out in numbers.
The table below pulls those numbers from Apple’s tech specs for each model and Apple’s compare page. Where Apple’s pages disagree we say so rather than pick. For the story behind the newest model, read our AirPods 5 announcement story.
Every AirPods spec sheet side by side
| Spec | AirPods 4 | AirPods 4 with ANC | AirPods 5 | AirPods 5 Wireless Case | AirPods Pro 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Not listed on compare page | Not listed on compare page | $129 | $149 | $249 |
| Chip | H2 | H2 | H2 | H2 | H2 + 2nd-gen UWB in case |
| Active Noise Cancellation | No | Yes | Yes, 1.5x vs AirPods 4 ANC | Yes, 1.5x | Yes |
| Listening, ANC off | 5 h | 5 h | 6 h | 7 h | Apple’s pages differ |
| Listening, ANC on | n/a | 4 h | 4 h | 5 h | 8 h |
| Total with case | 30 h | 20 h ANC on, 30 h off | 20 h ANC on | 22 h ANC on | 24 h ANC on |
| 5-minute charge | About 1 h | About 1 h | About 1 h | About 1 h | About 1 h |
| Case charging | USB-C | USB-C, Watch charger, Qi | USB-C | USB-C, Watch charger, Qi | MagSafe, Watch charger, Qi, USB-C |
| Case speaker | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes, plus lanyard loop |
| Water rating | IP54 | IP54 | IP57 | IP57 | IP57 |
| Earbud weight | 4.3 g | 4.3 g | 4.3 g | 4.3 g | 5.55 g |
| Case weight | 32.3 g | 34.7 g | 32.3 g | 34.7 g | 43.99 g |
| Heart rate sensor | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Hearing Test / Hearing Aid | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Live Translation | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Battery: where each model lands
With noise cancellation off, the four open-ear models run from 5 hours on either AirPods 4 to 6 hours on AirPods 5 and 7 hours on AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case. With ANC on, AirPods 4 with ANC and the $129 AirPods 5 both list 4 hours, the $149 AirPods 5 list 5 hours and the AirPods Pro 3 list 8 hours.
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.
Total listening with the case is 30 hours for AirPods 4, 20 hours ANC on or 30 hours ANC off for AirPods 4 with ANC, 20 hours for AirPods 5, 22 hours for the wireless model and 24 hours ANC on for the Pro 3. Apple has not published an ANC-off total for AirPods 5, and Apple’s pages differ on the Pro 3’s ANC-off single-charge figure, so neither appears above.
The five-minute charge is about 1 hour on all five per their spec pages. Apple’s compare page fetch returned about 1.5 hours for AirPods 5; we are using the spec page.
Water rating and weight: what changed with AirPods 5
AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with ANC are rated IP54. AirPods 5, both models, and AirPods Pro 3 are IP57. That is the single biggest physical upgrade from AirPods 4 to AirPods 5, because the earbuds and cases are otherwise dimensionally identical: 4.3 g buds at 30.2 by 18.3 by 18.1 mm, and a 46.2 by 50.1 by 21.2 mm case at 32.3 g for USB-C or 34.7 g for wireless. Apple’s tech specs do not list case dimensions for the base AirPods 4.
The Pro 3 is heavier everywhere: 5.55 g per bud at 30.9 by 19.2 by 27.0 mm, and a 47.2 by 62.2 by 21.8 mm case at 43.99 g.
Features that only some models have
- Active Noise Cancellation, Transparency, Adaptive Audio and Conversation Awareness: every model except AirPods 4.
- Voice Isolation and studio-quality audio recording: listed on AirPods 5; not listed for AirPods 4 on the pages we checked.
- Live Translation and hands-free Siri AI: AirPods 5, AirPods 5 Wireless Charging Case and AirPods Pro 3, per Apple’s compare page.
- Force sensor with volume swipe: AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case only among the open-ear models.
- Heart rate sensor, Hearing Test, FDA-authorized Hearing Aid, Hearing Protection: AirPods Pro 3 only.
- MagSafe charging and lanyard loop: AirPods Pro 3 only.
Siri AI and Live Translation depend on iOS 27, which arrives September 14 per our iOS 27 release date story, and on an Apple Intelligence iPhone. AirPods 5 ship September 18; AirPods Pro 3 and both AirPods 4 models are available now. Apple has not published AirPods 4 prices on the compare page we checked, so the lineup’s starting price is best taken from Apple’s store.
