Apple announced the fifth-generation AirPods on 9 September alongside the new iPhones. There are two models: a base version at $129 and one with a wireless charging case and on-stem volume controls at $149. Pre-orders opened the same day and shipping began on 18 September.
The notable part is not the price but the feature split. Both models have active noise cancellation, where in the previous generation only the more expensive one did. Apple claims around 50% more noise reduction than the AirPods 4, along with a redesigned internal layout, a new generation of Adaptive EQ, and up to 20 hours of listening with the case.
Cancelling noise in an earbud that does not seal the ear canal is the hard version of the problem. There is no passive attenuation to build on, the leakage path changes every time the bud shifts, and the cancellation has to be computed from the feedforward microphones in a few tens of microseconds. Doing that well used to justify a premium tier on its own.
That it now appears in the entry-level model is a statement about silicon rather than about audio. The DSP, the microphones and the power budget needed for adaptive cancellation have become cheap enough to ship by default. For anyone specifying an audio product, the practical consequence is that customers will arrive expecting cancellation at every price point, and a design that omits it needs a reason beyond cost.
It also resets the floor for everyone else. A competing product at the same price now has to explain a missing feature rather than charge for it, and the components that make cancellation possible — a capable audio system-on-chip, two or three microphones per side and a battery that tolerates the extra current — become baseline cost rather than a premium option.
Source: 9to5Mac