I’m tough on Apple, but if the new AirPods 4 get open-ear ANC right, I’ll be blown away

I give Apple a lot of crap. As a Chromebook fan and Google enthusiast, it’s sort of my job, right? As opposed as I am to a lot of their general ethos, I do tip my cap to Apple when it makes sense, and their latest announcement of the AirPods 4 coming with an ANC (active noise cancellation) option while still retaining an open-ear style has me very, very intrigued. And if they pull this off, I’ll 100% give credit where it is due.

I tuned into Apple’s event a little late thanks to a post I was working on that basically conveyed the fact that I don’t really care about the new iPhone’s latest hardware, but I deeply care about iOS 18’s ability to handle RCS in iMessage. That post ran into the beginning of the big event, so I missed the part about the new AirPods 4.

As a guy who used to wear standard AirPods for hours on end with no discomfort, I’ve pined for the day when that sort of earbud could offer ANC. Even though I’ve known for years that this was an incredibly difficult – if not impossible – task, I’ve longed for the comfort of open-ear earbuds that could somehow deliver ANC when needed. It clearly hasn’t been an effective thing up to this point.

AirPods 4 with ANC?

With the announcement of AirPods 4, however, Apple has said they will come in an optional ANC model for $50 more, and at $179, these earbuds will be a technological marvel if they can pull off any sort of usable ANC whatsoever.

With earbuds and noise cancellation, it all comes down to sound isolation. With in-ear designs, most of the outer noise is blocked to begin with and the ANC can cancel out the rest with opposing sound waves. How this can occur without the outer environment first being filtered out is beyond me, and the reason I say I’ll be blown away if Apple pulls this off.

But if I know anything about Apple, I know they don’t generally launch a new product unless they are confident it can deliver. While many times that means being late to the game on cutting-edge tech (hello, “Apple Intelligence”), it also means they tend not to ship things that don’t do what they promised.

And if that is the case, there may finally be a comfortable, great-sounding earbud on the horizon that can offer both ANC and the comfort of not having a protrusion in your ear canal. And that is something I’m wildly interested in. Whether it actually can deliver on that promise is another thing altogether, and only time will give us the answer on that front.