AirPods 4 get spatial audio and noise cancellation
But the AirPods Pro are getting a big hearing aid update (in the US).
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Hot off a wild few hours of liveblogging the event, I'm trying to now write up all the news from Apple's Glowtime showcase.
On the headphones front, the biggest news was the arrival of the 4th gen AirPods. Apple has tweaked the design a bit to improve the fit for more people, while adding in spatial audio and ANC for the first time.
Previously, both of these features were limited to the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max, so it's interesting to see the tech roll down to the entry level AirPods.
That said, I'm curious how well ANC will work with the open-ear fit of these earpods. Apple says that it uses upgraded microphones, the H2 chip and advanced computational audio to reduce external noises.
It's also introducing adaptive audio, which detects when you start speaking to automatically adapt music playback volume so you can clearly hear in transparency mode.
But there's a catch. If you want ANC, you're going to have to pay for it, with Apple introducing two models of the AirPods 4: the base model and the AirPods 4 with ANC.
AirPods Max go USB-C and get new colours
A minor update for AirPods Max with the arrival of USB-C charging, plus five new colours, including midnight, starlight, blue, orange, and purple.
AirPods Pro as a hearing aid
A big part of the showcase was some advanced hearing aid functionality coming to AirPods Pro, but it's not something mentioned for Australia yet.
Like the sleep apnea functionality in the Apple Watch Series 10, it's going to need TGA approval, so expect it to come as a software update down the line.
Essentially it automatically controls volume, and limits external noises to protect your hearing, introduces a medical grade hearing test, and then uses a hearing profile to help amplify sounds you struggle to hear automatically when you listen through the AirPods Pro.
It sounds like a pretty good feature for anyone with hearing challenges, so I'll be keeping an eye out for its Aussie release in the coming months
Pricing and availability
AirPods 4 are available for pre-order now and will ship on September 20 for an RRP of $219.
The AirPods 4 with ANC are also available for pre-order and will ship September 20, but have an RRP of $299.
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