How do you update the most popular audio product in the world? That's a question that would keep many companies awake at night. But almost a decade after the original launched, Apple has kept the classic AirPods model relevant while turning it into one of the most profitable businesses ever.
The 2026 AirPods 5 keep what people love while improving everything across the board. Better noise cancellation, better audio quality, better battery life, and even better gestures.
But there's a catch. Only the more expensive $149 model gets all the new features, whereas the cheaper $129 model misses out on many of the things that would justify upgrading to this from AirPods 4. So which model should you be getting? And should you even be buying the AirPods 5 in the first place? Let's find out.
Design and comfort
Right off the bat, I want to make it clear that a lot of things are common between the standard AirPods 5 model and the AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case model. As such, everything mentioned henceforth will apply to both of them, unless stated otherwise.
The design of the AirPods 5 is unchanged from the fourth generation model. Both the earbuds and the case are identical down to the last millimeter. That means there is not much new to say if you're already familiar with the AirPods 4.
Even if you're not intimately familiar with that model, most of us have seen what the AirPods look like at some point. The AirPods 5 still have that classic open-ear earbud shape with the short angled stalks. The case is tiny and still has that dental floss hinged top lid that flips open. And all of it is still finished in that same blinding shade of white.
The two variants of the AirPods 5 also have identical dimensions. The only difference is that the case of the wireless charging model is a couple of grams heavier.
Aesthetically, the design is fine, but doesn't really do much for me. I would appreciate it more if Apple did something interesting with it, like making it transparent or at least in colors that aren't glow-in-the-dark white. But the company loves its recognizable silhouettes and patterns, so we aren't going to have any radical new AirPods any time soon.
Functionally, I do have a bone to pick with the design. The small, slippery bits of the earbuds that stick out of the case make them frustratingly difficult to pluck out. The entire body of the earbuds is tiny, particularly the stalks, which also makes inserting and removing them from your ears or the case, or just handling them in general, feel finicky. I don't remember the last time I dropped any pair of earbuds as often as I did with the AirPods 5.
That conveniently brings us to the build quality, which is pretty good overall. The AirPods 5 are also IP57 rated for dust and water resistance for both the earbuds as well as the charging case.
The AirPods 5 continue to use an open-ear design, which remains a can of worms when it comes to compatibility with different ears. In-ear designs like the AirPods Pro don't have this problem, as most people have similar-sized ear canals and any differences can be made up for with different tip sizes. However, the AirPods 5 have to sit within the outer ear, and one cursory glance around will show you that nothing about that orifice is consistent in shape or size.
This means how well the AirPods 5 fit in your ears is complete luck of the draw, which won't just affect comfort but whether or not you can even wear them at all. If your ears are smaller, then the earbuds simply won't fit. Too big, and they will constantly fall out.
Fortunately, all the AirPods models have always fit my ears like a glove, and the AirPods 5 are no different. This means they sit securely (well, about as securely as open-ears can sit) and are also comfortable. I could wear them for hours and forget I'm even wearing them.
Of course, that may not be the case for you, so you are better off visiting your nearest Apple Store and trying them on for size. The good thing is that since the design is identical to the AirPods 4, you already know how these would fit if you've ever tried that model over the past two years.
Software and features
The AirPods 5, like other AirPods models, have been designed for use primarily with Apple products. You can pair them with other Bluetooth audio sources, but many of the features won't work as intended or at all, and you'd be wasting both your time and money.
Keeping that in mind, it goes without saying that compatibility with Apple products is perfect. When you open the case for the first time, you get the same one-tap pairing pop-up on the screen of your nearby iPhone or iPad that blew minds a decade ago, and remains the benchmark even today. After that, a new menu item appears in the Settings app of your paired device that lets you access all available features. Alternatively, you can also quickly access some functions from Control Center or the Bluetooth menu of your Mac.
AirPods settings
Once the AirPods are paired with your device and associated with your Apple account, they automatically become available on all your other Apple devices using that account. You could be listening to something on your iPhone and then start playing something on the Mac, and the audio will seamlessly transfer over. This can happen with as many devices as you have around, as the handover happens over the internet, and not by having the earbuds be paired to multiple devices at once.
The AirPods 5 surprisingly offer many of the same features as the more expensive AirPods Pro 3 thanks to using the same Apple H2 chip. You get Spatial Audio with head tracking, which can be personalized further for your specific HRTF using the camera on your iPhone. Then there's personalized volume, which adjusts volume based on ambient noise; conversation awareness, which reduces media volume if it detects you speaking; automatic pausing of media when you fall asleep; head gestures for interacting with calls or notifications by shaking your head; and Find My for locating your lost earbuds.
Audio settings
Apple also recently added an equalizer for use with AirPods models within iOS and iPadOS. It's rather limited, and only offers three-band adjustability, but it's better than nothing. Finally, there's also Live Translation, which translates any nearby spoken audio to the language of your choice. The feature is still in beta and supports eleven languages for now.
Live Translation feature
There are a couple of features that are exclusive to the Wireless Charging Case model of the AirPods 5. The first is a swipe gesture for adjusting volume. For whatever reason, while the standard AirPods 5 model does have a force sensor that detects when you squeeze the stem for other gestures, it cannot detect swipes for adjusting volume that the more expensive model can.
Gestures and other settings
Second, the Wireless Charging Case also has a built-in speaker. Other than emitting soft beeps when the battery is low or when you plug in the charger, it can also produce loud beeps when you lose the case and use Find My. This means you can find your earbuds and case separately, or when the earbuds are inside the case, making the Find My feature vastly more useful.
Compared to the AirPods Pro 3, most of the features that are missing on the AirPods 5 are related to the more advanced noise canceling and transparency modes on the former. Features like hearing tests, hearing aids, and hearing protection are absent from the AirPods 5 as they simply wouldn't work as well with the open-ear design. Then there's also the heart rate monitor that only the Pro model has. Finally, the AirPods Pro 3 case also has an ultra-wideband chip inside, which makes locating with Find My even better.
Performance
Audio quality
The AirPods 5 have a vented "custom high-excursion Apple driver" and a "custom high dynamic range amplifier", and that's the extent of information we have available on the audio system from Apple. The earbuds use Adaptive Audio, which adjusts the audio in real time to compensate for different ears and fits to ensure consistency in sound, and it's enabled at all times. The earbuds use standard AAC over Bluetooth 5.3.
The AirPods 5 audio quality is remarkable for what Apple is able to achieve with this design. Anyone who has used open-ear earbuds knows that there is no way to get consistent sound with these, and yet Apple is able to brute-force them into producing more than passable sound by strapping tiny computers to them.
Bass is an area of weakness for open-ear designs as a result of having to deal with near-infinite volume of air between the driver and the eardrum. Apple uses Adaptive Audio to map the shape of your ears and uses the feedback from the internal mics to tune the bass until you are hearing what it wants you to hear. You can even hear this in action for a split second when you first wear them, and the media starts playing.
Is it successful? Yes, but within reason. It's not possible to excite that much air with an open-ear design no matter how custom or high excursion your driver is, so the low bass notes cannot be hit with any effectiveness. The go-to option then is to boost the mid and upper mid bass frequencies. This is reasonably successful, especially if you're not overly familiar with what you're listening to, but if you are, then you would notice that the lowest notes aren't being registered.
Boosting mid and upper bass to compensate for the sub-bass also makes the sound a bit boomy. This is more prominent at lower volumes, as the AirPods 5 do the thing AirPods do, which is that they compensate for the loss of bass energy at lower volumes by artificially boosting it. At higher volumes, the bass on the AirPods 5 does, however, drop off more aggressively than it does on the AirPods Pro 3 to avoid overdriving and bottoming the driver.
The mids on the AirPods 5 are relatively tame. The lower mids are slightly overshadowed by the upper bass, which can flow over a bit. The upper mid-range, however, isn't as prominent as it could be.
This then flows into the treble, where the lower "presence" ranges of the treble are rather dull on the AirPods 5. This carries a bit into the mid-treble, and then the upper treble is suddenly quite sharp. This unevenness creates audible peaks and troughs in the sound, where some sounds are quite muted, and the others, like sibilants, can sound quite harsh.
The slightly boomy bottom end and the duller upper mid and lower treble create an overall sound that is on the warmer, darker side, periodically pierced by the sibilant upper treble. Going with either more bass energy or scooped-out treble would have been preferable. Doing both at the same time creates a slight imbalance in the sound.
That said, the tuning of the AirPods 5 can still be quite enjoyable, doubly so when you realize it's being achieved with an open-ear design. These are easily the best-sounding open-ear earbuds you will find, and nothing else really comes close. I was also able to mostly solve my gripes by messing with the bass and treble sliders in the new iOS 27 EQ.
In terms of technical performance, the AirPods 5 performed adequately well. The sound isn't super detailed or high resolution, but now and then the earbuds would pick up a minor detail in the sound and highlight it, which would make me sit up and pay attention because I had never really heard it like that before. Being open-ear, the AirPods 5 can utilize more of your anatomy before sending the sound down to your eardrums, which improves imaging and soundstaging noticeably.
All in all, the audio quality of the AirPods 5 was vastly more enjoyable than what you'd expect from an open-ear design. Of course, the AirPods Pro 3 with their in-ear fit still sound better, and will also be more consistent for more people. But if you have to go with an open-ear design for whatever reason, then the AirPods 5 are no slouch, either.
Microphone
The AirPods 5 have great overall microphone performance, as we have come to expect from Apple devices with the H2 chip. In effect, it's the same quality as you'd find on the AirPods Pro 3 or the AirPods 4, but if you're unfamiliar with it, here's a quick rundown.
Like the other H2 devices, the AirPods 5 use the AAC-ELD codec for a natural, high-quality audio capture. There is none of the typical compression and modulation that you hear on other Bluetooth devices, and it's about as close to wired earbuds as you can get. I wouldn't quite call it studio-quality as Apple does, but it's possibly the best sound you can get with Bluetooth earbuds.
However, that's in a quiet environment. In noisier environments, the AirPods still prioritize voice quality, which continues to sound surprisingly good, if a bit quiet. However, this comes at the cost of background noise reduction, which isn't as effective on the AirPods models as it is on other recent Bluetooth devices. You can more or less hear everything going on in the background with AirPods. Many of the other premium Bluetooth earbuds on the market can now completely obliterate background noise by sacrificing some voice quality, but Apple essentially takes the opposite approach.
Noise cancellation
The AirPods 5 support active noise cancellation and transparency modes. There is also an Adaptive mode, which acts as somewhat of a middle ground, and lets you manually adjust how much outside noise you want to let in.
The noise cancellation performance on the AirPods 5 is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it's impressive that it works at all with an open-ear design. On the other hand, it doesn't work particularly well, partly because of the limitations of the design, and partly because of the quirks of the software.
Noise cancellation typically relies on the combination of physically covering the ears and then letting the electronics kick in and fill in the blanks. Most full-sized headphones and in-ears can passively block high-frequency sounds since they have low energy and can be obstructed with a physical barrier. Then the electronics kick in and produce inverse sound waves to cancel out the low frequencies that tend to otherwise pass through even physical barriers.
On open-ear designs like AirPods 5, the high frequencies aren't especially well attenuated since the ear canals aren't fully blocked. So when the electronics kick in, you get the low-frequency attenuation, but the upper mid and high-frequency sounds are still fairly audible.
To my ears, this is quite distracting. While it was cool that the AirPods 5 managed to get rid of the pervasive low-frequency thrum of the surroundings, many of the higher-frequency sounds, like the sound of flowing water, objects clinking, or simply the upper notes of broad-spectrum noises like fans and air conditioners, still come in. Worse still, it sounds like there is a permanent hiss, which isn't actually from the electronics as I first thought, but simply leftover high-frequency sounds from the surroundings that couldn't be silenced.
To be fair, this isn't something you cannot drown out with your media. But it was distracting when nothing was playing, so I couldn't just wear them as earplugs on a flight.
Then there are the quirks, which admittedly are minor. Unlike the AirPods Pro 3, the AirPods 5 take a while to calibrate the ANC when you first place them in your ears. You will often hear the two earbuds firing off with different attenuation values before eventually matching each other. Seconds later, they complete the calibration and then settle down for real. If the earbuds move at any point after this, this entire process needs to happen again, and the earbuds also don't like it if you brush against the microphone openings on the outside. Once again, it's not something you cannot live with, but it is a tad bothersome and nowhere near as sophisticated as on the AirPods Pro 3.
The transparency mode on the AirPods 5 feels a tad superfluous. You can hear well enough by just disabling the ANC entirely, and the transparency mode really just brings additional clarity to the sound. It's good if you want to briefly hear something or someone clearly, but if you're just going to have it enabled for longer durations, then you may as well just turn ANC off completely and save some battery.
Battery
Speaking of battery, the AirPods 5 have a claimed battery life of 4 hours for the standard model and 5 hours for the model with the Wireless Charging Case. If you disable ANC or transparency, you get an additional two hours, bringing the total to 6 and 7 hours, respectively. I only have the fancy model here, so that's what I tested.
With the ANC enabled, I got 5 hours and 11 minutes of continuous playback. With ANC disabled, I got 7 hours and 29 minutes of playback.
The company also claims 1 hour of playback after a 5-minute charge from 0%, presumably with ANC, as it does not specify. In that test, I got 1 hour and 3 minutes with ANC enabled, and 1 hour and 23 minutes with ANC disabled.
The battery life on the AirPods 5 isn't good. If you travel a lot, you'd likely run out of juice even before you reach your destination if you start counting from the time you left your house. It's only adequate for going to and from school or work and short runabouts. And that is assuming you have the model with the bigger battery. The base AirPods 5 will likely test your patience if you plan anything longer than the daily commute.
Of course, it goes without saying that the case with Wireless Charging Case in the name supports wireless charging. However, unlike the larger AirPods Pro 3 case, the AirPods 5 case does not support MagSafe, even though it does have magnets inside. It can, however, work with standard Qi chargers or the Apple Watch chargers.
Which AirPods 5 should you buy?
One long-running bit with the AirPods since the second-generation model is this somewhat arbitrary option to buy it with or without a wireless charging case. At first, that's all it was, but with the AirPods 4, the two variants started to diverge, and the AirPods 5 model now shows the most differences between what, on the surface, seems like just different cases.
I'm not sure what's weirder: the insistence on assuming enough people care about wireless charging to make it a separate option or using that as the only identifiable marker for what is actually a notably different product.
Truth be told, the $129 base makes no sense, if for nothing else than for its dismal 4 hours of battery life. But it also loses out on the swipe gestures and, of course, the case with the wireless charging and the speaker. Not exactly groundbreaking stuff, but for just $20 less it feels like you lose out on a lot more than what you save. As such, you really should just consider this a $149 product, and forget the base model exists.
Conclusion
The AirPods continue to be a popular product a decade on from the original model and despite the existence of cheaper alternatives. Some people prefer the open-ear design to the much more commonplace in-ear options. Others simply want the cheapest product with the AirPods name attached to it.
For its part, Apple has done a lot over the years to keep the AirPods relevant. The AirPods 5 have all the modern features and conveniences that you can think of and at no point feel like they don't justify their price tag. In fact, they feel like better value than the AirPods Pro 3, considering how much of that product's technology is available here for $100 less. The only real product-specific issue with the AirPods 5 is the battery life, which can be quite limiting.
I say "product-specific" because most other AirPods 5 limitations stem from the open-ear design. Inconsistent fit, unreliable comfort, and generally dissatisfactory sound quality and noise cancellation are just some of the derelictions of the open-ear form factor, and why in-ears have become so pervasive in the first place. Try as Apple's skilled engineers might, it's a difficult problem to solve, and at this point probably feels like trying to engineer more sophisticated ways to power a square wheel when a round one already exists and is on sale for $100 more.
Well, turns out people like their square wheels, and if you're one of those who wants an open-ear design, or simply enjoy the feeling of having unspent $100 in your pocket, then the AirPods 5 are about as good as it gets right now.