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During every Apple event, there’s always one particular announcement, feature, or service which catches the eye of the national press, and it’s usually not the headline product.
For instance, your non-techy mate probably isn’t going to be reading about the new Camera Control button on the iPhone 16 today. Instead, she’ll catch wind of the new hearing aid feature coming to AirPods Pro 2 later this year.
Apple is smart with this kind of stuff; it knows it needs headling-grabbing material for each big event to be successful. The iPhone 16 will sell like hotcakes because of course it will. A lot of people will buy the tepidly updated AirPods Max because of course they will. But the world will sit up and take note when it hears that Apple is offering ‘clinical grade’ hearing health features to the masses via its earbuds.
As it turns out, they’ve been busy doing a lot more with the AirPods lineup, too (AirPods Max aside). That’s why, for me, it was the highlight of the iPhone 16 event.
AirPods 4 come of age
The standard AirPods have been treated to a complete design overhaul. Resembling AirPods Pro without the silicone tips (Apple refers to this as an open-ear design), AirPods 4 are being touted by Apple as the most comfortable entry-level earbuds they’ve ever made.
We’re told that many ear types have been researched and lessons applied from the AirPods Pro. The result is, hopefully, exactly what Apple says it is: a pair of earbuds which fit more people’s ears than ever before.
They also feature the H2 chip, which opens up AirPods 4 to a whole bunch of smart features including Personalised Spatial Audio, Voice Isolation for calls, and new Siri interactions such as nodding and shaking your head to respond “yes” or “no”, respectively.
The new case is the smallest Apple has ever made for a pair of AirPods, and the thirty hours of maximum battery life is achieved, mercifully, via a USB-C charging port. The AirPods 4 also have the squeezy touch controls which work so beautifully on the AirPods Pro 2.
At just £129, they appear to be a bit of a bargain.
But, it gets better.
AirPods 4 with ANC: hello, AirPods Pro lite?!
There are actually two versions of AirPods 4. If you spend an extra £50, you get an edition with active noise cancelling (ANC) and transparency mode, both of which are borrowed from the more expensive AirPods Pro 2.
That’s not all – AirPods 4 with ANC also include a case that has wireless charging and a built-in speaker for locating your lost AirPods and indicating charging status. They also benefit from Conversation Awareness, which is when the media volume automatically reduces if you start talking to someone while wearing the buds.
This means AirPods 4 with ANC are essentially a pair of AirPods Pro 2 ‘lite’ without the rubber tips and for £50 less.
So, why would you buy AirPods Pro 2?
AirPods Pro 2 get the health treatment
There had to be a big differentiation between AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 with ANC, and Apple has, smartly, gone down the health route.
Three new health capabilities are coming to AirPods Pro 2: hearing protection, a hearing test, and clinical-grade hearing aid technology.
The hearing protection centres around new machine learning algorithms that help reduce loud external noise at up to 48,000 times per second. The hearing test is used in conjunction with your iPhone or iPad to provide a scientifically validated set of results which are easy to digest and which can be shared with your doctor.
Once the hearing test has been taken, the real magic happens. A hearing profile is created, which dynamically boosts certain frequencies to counter any hearing difficulty the user may have. If you’ve been given an audiogram from a hearing health professional, you can even use that to personalise the hearing aid feature further.
Apple is currently in the process of gaining marketing authorisation from global health organisations and expects the hearing aid feature to be available in over 100 countries by the end of the year.
This is a big deal.
Final thought
I’m fortunate enough not to have any issues with my hearing (that I’m aware of, at least). But I may need the hearing aid features built into AirPods Pro 2 at some stage in my life, and there are plenty of people out there right now who will hopefully benefit from it straight away.
AirPods 4 and the new hearing health features for AirPods Pro 2 represent Apple at its best. The former are a no-brainer purchase for most iPhone users and offer features that a lot of the competition at a similar price point simply can’t match. I can’t wait to test them properly.
As for the hearing health stuff, it is far more interesting and potentially life-changing than any of the iPhone 16 updates we saw this week. And that reveals just how hard it is to make a genuinely ground-breaking smartphone these days.
Before you go
