AirPods 5 opened for pre-order on Wednesday at $129, with a second version at $149, and active noise cancellation comes in both boxes. Last year the split was the feature itself: AirPods 4 cost $129 without cancellation and $179 with it. So anyone who wanted ANC in an open-ear AirPod is paying fifty dollars less this week than last, which is the arithmetic in 9to5Mac's comparison of the two generations. Apple rates the cancellation at up to 50 percent more noise removed than AirPods 4 with ANC, and credits a multiport acoustic architecture borrowed from AirPods Pro 3.
What the extra $20 buys now is hardware. According to Apple, the $149 model adds wireless charging from an Apple Watch puck, a Qi pad or a USB-C cable, a force sensor on the stem for swiping the volume, and an hour more listening with cancellation on. Apple hasn't published a charging time for any of the three methods, and it hasn't said whether the case aligns to MagSafe beyond working on Qi. Both boxes ship on September 18. Apple's own specs comparison rates AirPods Pro 3 at three times the cancellation of AirPods 5.