AirPods 4 are SO close to being perfect. But Apple can still pull off this genius idea for the AirPods Pro 3.
All be honest… When I first saw Apple’s incredibly sneaky way to upsell you on the AirPods 4, I was disappointed.
In case it’s not clear, Apple now sells the same new AirPods 4 in two variants – one with Active Noise Cancellation and one without. ANC is a software feature, which means Apple has literally turned the feature off on the $130 model and left it on with the $180 one. And that’s just… a weird way to sell a software feature on the same hardware.
But that’s Apple at its best/worst business behavior – depending on the perspective. However… then I actually took a minute to assess what the new AirPods 4 with ANC meant, and I realized… they are (almost) my dream earbuds.
And… I might even buy a pair even though I already have (technically) the best AirPods Pro 2. Here’s why…
Apple pulled the most “Apple” trick to make you buy the new AirPods 4 with ANC, but at least they are truly special and (almost) unique
Now, for starters, it’s important to note that there aren’t many earbuds makers (from the billions of them out there) that make on-ear earbuds (that don’t penetrate your ear) and offer Active Noise Cancellation at the same time
In fact, the only other pair of such earbuds I can think of are Huawei’s scary-looking FreeBuds 5, which do exactly that – stay on your ear and give you ANC.
As Mariyan pointed out in his FreeBuds 5 review, how good the ANC with on-ear earbuds is, “will vary greatly depending on how tight these buds fit inside your ears”.
