On September 9, Apple announced AirPods 5 - open headphones without silicone earbuds, with active noise cancellation. The base version costs $129, the version with wireless charging case costs $149. Pre-orders are open on the day of the announcement, in stores starting Friday, September 18, in the US and “more than 65 countries and regions.”
The hardware features a new multi-port acoustic architecture, next-generation Adaptive EQ and improved protection from dust, sweat and water. Noise cancellation, as Apple puts it, removes "up to 50 percent more ambient noise" compared to AirPods 4 with ANC. The version with the case added a pressure sensor on the leg with a volume swipe, up to five hours of playback with ANC turned on on a single charge (an hour more than the previous generation) and up to 22 hours with the case.
Software takes up no less space in the release than sound. Live Translation now works across the entire AirPods line: activated by double-pressing both legs at the same time, using your voice, or using the action button on your iPhone. You can respond to Siri with a nod or shake of your head. Siri AI itself goes into beta in iOS 27 on Monday, September 14, initially in English, with French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish promised in October.
Which of these works
“50 percent more” is a comparison with the previous generation without an absolute basis, and this is an Apple figure, not an independent laboratory measurement. AirPods 4 with ANC were also open, so this is the second generation of the same idea, and not the debut of noise cancellation in an open fit.
No one has canceled physics: the open fit does not create the passive isolation that ANC in the earbuds relies on. The low hum of the airplane cabin, ventilation, and metro is noticeably cut off by such a system; intelligible speech nearby is much worse. For open space and calls, this is rather a plus: the hum goes away, and you can hear the colleague who called out. For a flight with a child in the next row, earbuds are still a winner.
The real reason to take a closer look is the shape. For some people, earbuds cause pressure and irritation in the ear canal, and the entire class of noise-canceling headphones is closed to them. Here the ANC arrives in a uniform they can wear.
Now about what is not in the release for us. List of Apple Intelligence languages in the same press release: English, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Vietnamese, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean. There is no Russian on the list. This means that neither Siri AI nor Live Translation paired with Russian out of the box work, and translation is the main reason why these headphones are used for work. Plus, there is no official Apple retail in Russia, so $129 has nothing to do with the local price tag, the guarantee is up to the seller.
If you are using Live Translation, open the list of supported languages and check your working pair in it. There is no pair - buy these headphones only for the sound and comfortable fit, the rest will not come to you.