AirPods 4 have a secret button and something special for Vision Pro users too
We’re still annoyed about the AirPods Max ‘upgrade’, and one of these new features isn’t helping
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Great news for the many millions of people who bought Vision Pro as their mainAppleMusic device: the newAirPods 4andAirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellationwill deliver lossless audio with ultra-low latency when you connect them to your headset, a feature that was previously limited to the USB-C version ofAirPods Pro 2.
That means that Apple’s cheapest $129 AirPods now outperform the$549 AirPods Max with USB-C, which don’t deliver lossless. Although, to be fair, the Max aren’t exactly the ideal shape for sticking on top of a headset.
That’s not the only new feature in the new AirPods 4. There’s also a change to the button on the charging case. Where previously the button was just a button, it’s now acapacitivebutton. Not only that, but where previous buttons were on the back, this one’s on the front of the case, just below the status light. If I wereTim CookI’d be using words like “magical”, “amazing” and “incredible” right now.
What does the new AirPods 4 button do?
As before, the button is there so you can easily pair your AirPods with your iPhone, iPad or Mac if it doesn’t pair automatically. According toMacotakara, pairing is just a matter of double-tapping when you open the case and see the status light. And Gear Patrol adds that you can use it to factory reset your AirPods 4 by long-pressing or triple-pressing the new button. The site also says that the new AirPods' status light is much more discreet than before and appears to vanish completely when you close the charging case.
We’re impressed by what we’ve seen and heard of the AirPods 4 so far: if you don’t like ear tips or the price of the AirPods Pro 2, the $179 ANC version of these new buds is good value for money;if you don’t ANC then $129 for the more basic model is a pretty great pricefor AirPods sound. And because they have the same H2 chip as the AirPods Pro 2 they’ll benefit from the sameAirPods updatewe wrote about yesterday with gesture controls for hands-free Siri.
AirPods Pro 4are available for pre-order nowand will be available in stores from 20 September.
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Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than a dozen books. Her memoir,Carrie Kills A Man, is on sale now and her next book, about pop music, is out in 2025. She is the singer in Glaswegian rock bandUnquiet Mind.
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