At Apple’s recent September Glowtime event, CEO Tim Cook introduced significant updates across the AirPods lineup, hinting at major enhancements. VP of hardware engineering Kate Bergeron made the primary announcements, with particular emphasis on the upgraded AirPods 4—Apple’s most affordable model, starting at $129. These now come with an optional noise cancellation feature for an additional $50 and are equipped with Apple’s advanced H2 chip, first seen in the AirPods Pro 2 in 2022.
The H2 chip brings considerable improvements. For instance, Apple mentions the chip in the AirPods Pro 2 can cancel “twice as much noise” as the original Pro model. The H2 chip in the AirPods 4 reportedly enhances sound quality and activates several intelligent features that improve user interactions with calls, Siri, and more. These capabilities are attributed to the chip’s advanced machine-learning technology.
Kate Bergeron detailed some of these new features in the AirPods 4. Significant additions include Siri Interactions, which enables physical responses like nodding or shaking the head to communicate with Siri, Adaptive Audio that adjusts noise cancellation and transparency based on the user’s environment, and Conversation Awareness, which lowers the audio when the user starts speaking and raises it again afterwards.
Other notable features include Personalized Audio, shorter voice commands to summon Siri, and Voice Isolation for clearer calls.
In contrast, Apple made more modest updates to the AirPods Max, their premium headphones. The AirPods Max received minor changes such as the introduction of new colors and a USB-C connector, lacking the advanced H2 chip and subsequent feature enhancements found in the new AirPods 4.
