Apple Puts Open-Ear ANC on the $129 AirPods 5

Apple made Active Noise Cancellation standard on AirPods 5, starting at $129, and cut $30 off last year’s ANC pair at its September 9 event. Pre-orders opened the same day for the buds, Apple Watch Series 12, and Apple Watch Ultra 4, with stores set for Friday, September 18.

The cheap open-ear pair now does the job Apple used to sell as a $179 upgrade, while the company’s own catalog still prices AirPods Pro 3 as the 3x cancellation product.

Apple Put ANC on the $129 Open-Ear Buds

AirPods 5 keep the open-ear fit of AirPods 4, sit in the canal without silicone tips, and now ship ANC on both models. Apple said a new multiport acoustic architecture and updated computational audio remove up to 50 percent more external noise than AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation, and it calls that the industry’s best ANC in an open-ear design.

AirPods 4, launched in 2024, started at $129 without ANC and asked $179 for the ANC version. AirPods 5 put ANC on the $129 pair, which now uses a wired USB-C case, and they put the wireless case, stem volume swipe, and extra battery on a $149 model. That $149 kit is $30 below the old ANC SKU.

We’re thrilled that with AirPods 5, we’re able to bring Active Noise Cancellation to our most affordable AirPods.

Dave Pakula, vice president of Hardware Engineering, Apple

Adaptive Audio blends ANC and Transparency as the room changes, and Conversation Awareness drops media volume when the wearer starts talking. Personalized Spatial Audio and next-generation Adaptive EQ are part of the same internal redesign, which Apple said it reworked from AirPods Pro 3 for a wider range of ear shapes. Live Translation, already on other AirPods, now runs across the whole lineup: press both stems, ask Siri, or use the iPhone Action button after languages are downloaded in the Translate app.

Siri AI, rolling out as a beta in iOS 27 on September 14 in English, can run hands-free on the buds for people with a supported iPhone. Head gestures still work for yes and no. French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish Siri AI support is due in October, and Apple said the assistant will not initially be available in the EU.

The Same Catalog Still Gives Pro 3x the Cancellation

The gift has a ceiling, and Apple printed it itself. Its AirPods comparison lists AirPods Pro 3 as offering up to 3x more Active Noise Cancellation than AirPods 5, and the in-ear Pro 3 still starts at $249. The $149 AirPods 5 sit $100 under that tag while sharing stem swipe and a wireless case, which is the split buyers will actually feel.

AIRPODS 5 AGAINST AIRPODS PRO 3

AirPods 5 do not get the Pro 3 hearing-health tools or the workout heart rate sensor, which is the remaining hardware reason to pay $249 if silence is not the only goal. Five minutes in either AirPods 5 case still returns about an hour of listening. The $149 pair is the configuration that now does the most damage to Pro’s old pitch, because wireless charging and the swipe control no longer sit behind a $179 gate.

What $20 Extra Buys on AirPods 5

Both AirPods 5 models include ANC, Adaptive Audio, Transparency, Spatial Audio, Live Translation, and Siri AI support. The $20 step to $149 is no longer an ANC upcharge. It is a case, a battery cell, and a control strip.

WHAT THE $20 WIRELESS CASE ADDS

• Stem swipe: A force sensor on the stem, a first for Apple’s open-ear shape, lets the wearer swipe up or down for volume the way Pro already does.
• Extra hour: Up to 5 hours with ANC on a charge, one hour longer than AirPods 4 with ANC, and up to 22 hours with the case, versus 4 hours and 20 hours on the $129 pair.
• Wireless charging: The case takes an Apple Watch charger, a Qi pad, or USB-C, so the cable is optional rather than required.

Apple also said dust, sweat, and water resistance improved over the previous open-ear model. The buds are made with 40 percent recycled material overall, including 100 percent recycled cobalt in the battery, and the wireless case uses 70 percent recycled plastic. Pre-orders run in the U.S. and more than 65 other countries and regions.

A Watch That Can Rewind 15 Seconds of Speech

Apple Watch Series 12 starts at $399 and Apple Watch Ultra 4 starts at $799, both on the new S11 chip. The headline software is Audio Intelligence: on-wrist listening features that use the watch microphones, the S11 Secure Exclave, and Apple Intelligence models on iPhone. Apple said the features do not create audio recordings, and raw audio is not available to the operating system, apps, the wearer, or Apple.

FOUR AUDIO INTELLIGENCE FEATURES

• Sound Recognition: Alerts for sirens, alarms, doorbells, or a baby crying, aimed at people who are deaf or hard of hearing, even when the iPhone is not nearby.
• Music Recognition: Automatic Shazam in the Smart Stack, sending an acoustic signature rather than raw audio.
• Live Rewind: A double press of the Digital Crown shows the last 15 seconds of speech as text, with a chime that plays even if the watch is on silent.
• Siri Recap: Opt-in high-level summaries of conversations, scheduled by time or place, with no speaker labels, auto-deleted after 7 days if they are not saved.

Sound Recognition and Shazam can run with iPhone 11 or later, or iPhone SE (2nd generation or later), on iOS 27. Live Rewind and Siri Recap are a later-this-year English beta, need Apple Intelligence and Siri AI, and require iPhone 16 or newer (including iPhone 17, iPhone Air, iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, and iPhone Duo, and not iPhone 16e). They are blocked for users under 13. A Live Rewind snippet vanishes about 30 seconds after the display dims unless it is saved or sent to Siri. Siri AI will not initially be available in the EU on iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS, so the speech features that sold the S11 chip are not a day-one global watch story.

Heart Rate Every Five Seconds and a 0-10 Score

Both new watches use a Health Sensing System Apple said is the most accurate heart rate sensing in a wearable, checked in a study of more than 1,000 people against other leading devices. Larger green LEDs measure heart rate every five seconds all day. HRV is measured up to 24 times more often, split into recovery HRV for daily stress and an overall HRV reading for longer trends.

Readiness turns recent activity, training load, vitals, and sleep into a 0-10 score with four labels: Recover, Pace Yourself, Ready, or Go For It. The score updates during the day after a hard session or a shift in daytime vitals. A redesigned Health app, due later this year in U.S. English, adds a Longevity tab with Health Age, which compares selected metrics with the wearer’s actual age.

SERIES 12 AND ULTRA 4 BATTERY CLAIMS

• Series 12: Up to 24 hours of typical use, 38 hours in Low Power Mode, about 30 minutes to 80 percent, and 15 minutes of charging for up to 12 hours.
• Ultra 4 everyday: Up to 50 hours, and up to 84 hours in Low Power Mode.
• Ultra 4 workouts: Up to 25 hours of Extended Workout tracking with GPS and heart rate, a 25 percent rise, and up to 45 hours in Max Extended Workout with GPS once a second.
• Ultra 4 plug: 15 minutes of charging adds up to 18 hours.

Aluminum Series 12 models get Ceramic Shield 2, which Apple said is 60 percent tougher than the Ion-X glass on the previous aluminum watches, and the lineup adds a ceramic case in pearl white and night blue plus titanium in natural and radiant gold. Ultra 4 stays in natural and black titanium and adds a Titanium Hermès band. Series 12 comes in 42mm and 46mm. watchOS 27 is due on Apple Watch Series 9 and later, SE 3, and Ultra 2 and later ahead of the September 18 store date, with iPhone 11 or later on iOS 27.

AppleCare One Family Covers Six People at $49.99

U.S. customers can enroll in AppleCare One Family from September 14 at $49.99 a month until cancelled. The plan covers every eligible device for up to six people in a Family Sharing group, including gear already owned if it is less than four years old and in good working condition. New eligible products join automatically, and the monthly price does not rise with the pile.

Family coverage includes AppleCare+ style accident repairs, battery service if capacity drops below 80 percent, and 24/7 priority support, plus theft and loss for eligible iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch models, capped at six claims per year across the group. AppleCare One Individual, launched in the U.S. in July 2025, remains $19.99 a month for up to three products, with extra units at $5.99 a month and three claims per year. Standalone iPhone AppleCare+ still starts at $10.99 a month or $109.99 a year, with two theft-and-loss claims in 12 months.

Same-day screen or Ceramic Shield repairs list a $29 service fee, other accidental damage a $99 fee, and theft or loss replacements a $149 fee. Apple also showed new iPhone case colors, wrist lanyards, and AirPods Pro lanyard straps alongside the hardware.

The First Ternus Keynote Still Sold a Watch That Listens

John Ternus took over as CEO on September 1 and led Surprise and Shine eight days later, his first September keynote. He told the room that ANC is now standard across the AirPods lineup and that the company is taking features from its most advanced products and putting them on cheaper ones. That line fits the $129 buds. It also fits a catalog that still asks $249 for 3x cancellation, hearing tools, and an 8-hour cell.

iPhone Duo
iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max
Apple Watch Series 12 and Apple Watch Ultra 4
AirPods 5

… and Joz pic.twitter.com/TWj3GjDSmk

— John Ternus (@johnternus) September 9, 2026

The same post listed iPhone Duo and iPhone 18 Pro beside Series 12, Ultra 4, and AirPods 5. The phones took the airtime. The wearables took the price cut and the microphone. Ternus, who ran hardware when the original AirPods shipped in 2016, used the event to press the hardware bet as Apple CEO on cheaper open-ear ANC and an S11 watch that can rewind speech, once the beta lands, and once the region allows it.

FROM CEO SWITCH TO STORE DATE

1. September 1, 2026: Ternus becomes CEO.
2. September 9, 2026: Surprise and Shine; AirPods 5, Series 12, and Ultra 4 pre-orders open in listed countries.
3. September 14, 2026: AppleCare One Family and iOS 27 Apple Intelligence; Siri AI English beta.
4. September 18, 2026: AirPods 5, Series 12, and Ultra 4 reach stores.
5. Later this year: Live Rewind and Siri Recap English beta on S11 watches; redesigned Health app in U.S. English.

Pre-orders are already open in the listed countries. The buds and watches reach stores on Friday, September 18, with Live Rewind still dated only as a later English beta.