AirPods 5: The $20 Case Is Where the Battery Upgrade Lives

Update, 17 October 2026. This piece said Apple gave no test conditions for the AirPods 5 noise figure, and that it states no battery life for the $129 model. Both are now on Apple’s own pages: the compare page rates AirPods 5 at “up to 1.5x more Active Noise Cancellation” than AirPods 4 with ANC “when tested in accordance with IEC 60268-24”, and apple.com/airpods gives the $129 model up to 4 hours with noise cancelling and up to 20 hours with the case. The table and the noise section are corrected.

The $20 difference is not a charging feature. Apple’s own release says the $149 AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case are the model that “add longer battery life and on-stem volume control” — the cheaper model gets the new noise cancelling, but not those.

So the useful question is not whether you charge wirelessly. It is whether you listen for longer than four hours at a time, and whether you want to change the volume without reaching for your phone.

What both models share

Both AirPods 5 models get the new Active Noise Cancellation, which Apple says removes “up to 50 percent more noise compared to AirPods 4 with ANC”, along with an improved Transparency mode, Adaptive Audio, Conversation Awareness and Live Translation. Apple also describes improved dust, sweat and water resistance.

The noise figure is Apple’s own. The release gives no test conditions, but Apple’s compare page states the same gain as “up to 1.5x” when tested to the IEC 60268-24 standard. It is a claim about these earbuds against Apple’s previous ones, not a comparison with anyone else’s. What noise cancelling handles well and badly explains how Transparency and Adaptive differ between makers.

What only the $149 model adds

	AirPods 5 (affiliate link to Amazon, opens in a new tab)	With Wireless Charging Case (affiliate link to Amazon, opens in a new tab)
Price	$129	$149
Noise cancelling	Yes	Yes
Battery with ANC, per charge	Up to 4 hours	Up to 5 hours
Battery with the case	Up to 20 hours	Up to 22 hours
Volume swipe on the stem	No	Yes
Wireless charging	No	Apple Watch, Qi and USB-C

Apple places its battery figures in the section about the Wireless Charging Case model: up to five hours with noise cancelling, “one hour longer than AirPods 4 with ANC”, and up to 22 hours with the case. The release attributes the battery gain to a redesigned battery in that model, not to the cheaper one.

If you use more than Apple devices

AirPods follow you between an iPhone, iPad and Mac automatically, but Apple’s own guide conditions that on the devices being signed in to the same Apple Account. A Windows laptop or an Android phone is not part of that. We set out how Apple’s switching differs from the Bluetooth multipoint other makers use in what two devices at once actually costs.

Before you buy either

Both go on sale in stores on 18 September. If you are choosing between these and everything else, our earbud shortlist ranks what the reviews agree on once they exist. Two older guides may save you a return: how to tell whether you are listening too loud, and what to check when one earbud sounds quieter than the other.