The AirPods have long been the easiest way to listen to music from your iPhone. Now, with the AirPods 5, Apple has meaningfully updated the technology – and turned them into one of the company’s best-value offerings yet. I’ve been using the new wireless earbuds over the last week to see whether they live up to their predecessors, and whether that cheaper price comes with any other kind of costs.
Like all of Apple’s earbud line-up, including the AirPods Pro, the AirPods are most notable for their smooth and easy connection with all of the rest of the company’s products. Pairing is a breeze, they can automatically switch between your Apple devices, and they work seamlessly with other Apple technology such as Siri.
But, especially in recent years, Apple has worked on dramatically improving the sound quality and adding other new features. This time around, with the AirPods 5, it has focused on two things – improved sound and better noise cancellation – while adding other features such as better controls.
But, perhaps most notably of all, Apple has actually reduced the price of the new AirPods. At a time when Apple and other tech companies are dependably hiking up the cost of their new gadgets, the AirPods 5 add new technology at a lower cost (from £119), and they may now be easily the best value Apple product there is.
There are actually two new versions of the AirPods 5: the normal AirPods 5, and the AirPods 5 with wireless charging case. If that’s not confusing enough, the charging case isn’t actually the only thing different about the latter, as they also let you control the volume by swiping the stems and have more battery life. I reviewed the latter version, but beyond those features they are identical – almost everything in this review applies to both, and I’ll note when it doesn’t.
Read more: I’ve reviewed the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max
AirPods 5
Battery life: AirPods 5: Up to 4 hours on a charge, and 20 hours with the case; AirPods 5 with wireless charging case: up to 5 hours on a charge, and 22 hours from the case
Noise cancellation?: Yes, now across the whole line
Smart features: Quick pairing, automatic switching between devices, live translation
Dimensions (earbuds): 30.2mm x 18.3mm x 18.1mm
Weight (earbuds): 4.3g
Dimensions (case): 50.1mm x 46.2mm x 21.2mm
Weight (case): 32.3g for AirPods 5, 34.7g with wireless charging case
Water resistance: IP57 rated, protected against dust and brief water immersion
Why we love it
- Noise cancellation now standard across the models
- Noticeably improved sound
- Offer almost all of Apple's best audio features – at a much lower price
Take note
- Battery life is limited
- Some users find fit uncomfortable
AirPods 5: Design
The base version of the AirPods use an open-ear design that mean that they rest inside the opening of your ears, rather than nestling in them in the way that the AirPods Pro and their silicone eartips do. For some people, that might mean they fit better, though for others the snug feeling of the AirPods Pro can make them sit more securely. The design also comes with some drawbacks, including reduced noise cancellation and less powerful sound.
But, otherwise, the design of the AirPods 5 is largely the same as the AirPods that you have seen sticking out of so many people’s ears. They are made up of a larger bud and a stem that reaches down from the ear.
That stem is extra important this year: the slightly more expensive version of the AirPods 5 finally adds a control to it, which means you can swipe up and down to change the volume of the music. This has been a notable distinction between the base version of the AirPods and the more expensive Pro models – using the stem to change the volume is a genuine improvement, which means you can leave your phone in your pocket or your bag, and once you have done so it’s hard to go back.
Changes to the design also mean that the AirPods 5 are now better at withstanding water, moving from an IP54 rating to IP57. In practice, that means that they are no longer resistant just to rain or sweat, but actually able to stay alive through a brief drop into water. It’s the kind of change that you hope you never to need to test, but which could be dramatically helpful if you actually do.
Otherwise, the outside design of the AirPods 5 is largely unchanged, and you would be hard-pressed to see a difference compared to older models from the outside. Luckily, it’s the inside where the big improvements happen.
AirPods 5: Sound and noise cancellation
Previous versions of the base AirPods have been crisp and clear, but tended to struggle a little with heft. They struggled especially with giving out chunky bass, and occasionally were a little quiet, especially given that older models didn’t have noise cancellation and so would need to be turned up louder to make sure you could hear them.
This time around, audio has much more power and weight, while the clarity and precision of the sound are also improved. Even with these improvements, they don’t match up to the more expensive AirPods Pro 3, but they are good enough for picking out the precise details of a piece of classical music or powering through a run with heavy bass.
The noise cancellation is a welcome addition, and Apple has now added this to all of its models. It has also improved it from previous generations, so that sound is quietened up to 50 per cent more than it was with the noise-cancelling AirPods 4. It not only means that you can cut out distracting noises – the whirr of a plane, the buzz of a city, the chatter of an office – but also helps with the audio quality, since your music or podcasts are no longer fighting with the sound of your surroundings.
Once again, just like the sound quality, the AirPods 5 don’t stand up to the more expensive AirPods Pro for noise cancellation. But, especially for their price and given their open-ear design, the effect is astonishing: while you can still hear the noise of the inside of a plane, for instance, it is reduced to a quiet, distant hum rather than a distracting, intrusive churning.
AirPods 5: Other features
The deep integration with Apple’s other devices is obvious right from the first time you setup the AirPods: you open up the case and hold it near your phone, which will bring up a box with a “connect” button on it. Press that and your AirPods are paired – not only with your phone, but also with any other devices such as Macs and AirPods that are logged into the same account, and they will automatically switch between them as they are needed.
Then, when you use them, you notice the rest of the features. They include almost all of Apple’s recent audio innovations: transparency mode so that you can hear the world around you, adaptive audio that blends that transparency mode with noise cancellation for a more even experience of ambient sound, and conversation awareness that spots when you are talking and dips the volume and allows sound in so that you can chat without touching your ears.
The addition of noise cancellation also means that Apple can now make its Live Translation feature available across the AirPods line-up. That works by taking sound from the microphones, translating it with your phone, and playing back people’s speech in your language; it is an astonishingly impressive feature, but in practice a little confusing to use, not least because you are still unable to actually reply to anyone who is talking to you.
The new AirPods also get all of the latest Siri features – useful, given that iOS 27 brings vast improvements to the voice assistant. It is always-on, so that you can start it up by just saying “Siri” while wearing your headphones, and has the option to nod or shake your head so that you can wordlessly respond to questions from Siri when it asks you them.
All of these features are the real reason that the AirPods 5 in both versions soar ahead of rivals if you’re looking for wireless earphones to use with your iPhone. The sound and noise cancellation is great, but you can get similar performance elsewhere for roughly similar prices; however the AirPods offer all of that in a package that easily integrates with the rest of your Apple devices, which makes for a wonderfully seamless process.
AirPods 5: Battery life
Battery life is perhaps the biggest drawback of the AirPods 5. The base model has only four hours of listening out of their case – with an extra hour if you go for the more expensive version with the wireless charging case – which is just half the life of the AirPods Pro 3, for instance.
That might not sound like much, but I have found at least that wireless earbuds tend to be going in and out of their case so often that they are regularly getting extra charge, and you rarely hit the limit. While the battery life is only enough for half a working day, for instance, in practice they tend to get enough charge during meetings and breaks that they stay topped up. The only time I really ran into the limit during testing was during a long flight, when I had to switch to the airline’s wired headphones while the AirPods 5 topped themselves up in their case.
The case itself offers 20 hours of total listening for the base AirPods 5, with an extra two hours for the model with the wireless charging case. The extra time is the result of improved battery technology in the more expressive model. That’s nearly as long as the 24 hours offered by the AirPods Pro 3, and usually more than enough to get you through to the next time you need a charger.
Most of the time, this isn’t likely to matter. But if you can foresee times when the four or five hour battery life is likely to be a problem – if you often take long flights, or want to wear them through a whole working day, for example – it is perhaps the one situation where another set of earphones, like the AirPods Pro 3, might be an obvious upgrade.
Buy now £139, Very.co.uk
Should you buy the AirPods 5?
In short: yes. Certainly if you have an iPhone and want an incredibly good value pair of wireless earphones.
The AirPods 4 were already by far the best value in Apple’s audio line-up, and now the AirPods 5 have dropped the price and made that even more true. At launch, Apple’s AirPods 4 were £129, and the model with noise cancellation were £179. The AirPods 5 starts at £119 – and includes noise cancellation – and the upgraded version with the wireless charging case is just £139.
Now, the AirPods are not just the best value but they’re much closer to the best of Apple’s earphones, and among the best-sounding at their price point. Plus, you get all the expected benefits of the AirPods line-up: absolutely seamless setup and instant switching between your devices.
If that sounds good, then you will have to pick between the two versions of the AirPods 5, with or without the wireless charging case and the controls on the stems. Helpfully, this is easy: if you can, then pay the extra £20, more for the controls on the stems and the slightly better battery life than the wireless charging.
If you’re in the market for AirPods, though, then the more pressing question might be whether you should pay the extra £80 for the AirPods Pro 3. For that extra money, you get improved noise cancellation, better audio quality, heart rate sensing for workouts, Apple’s hearing test features, much better battery life. You also get the ear tips – which helps with blocking out sound, though some people find them uncomfortable. They are, overall, a subtly more premium experience, but you will of course have to pay a premium to get them.
For their price, though, the AirPods 5 with wireless charging case represent astonishing value. They are not only Apple’s most accessible and easy way of listening to music, with great sound and noise cancellation, but are also without a doubt the best value offering in the whole of the company’s product line-up.
How I tested the AirPods 5
I have been using the AirPods 5 with wireless charging case since the day they were announced. In the time since, I have worn them through a variety of challenging environments, including flights and busy offices. Through that time, I tested their performance with a range of different audio – from podcasts to the loudest and most subtle music – and compared their sound with the rest of Apple’s audio line-up as well as the earphones from its biggest competitors. In my testing, I assessed the following:
Why you can trust IndyBest reviews
The Independent’s dedicated shopping section, IndyBest is committed to providing unbiased reviews and expert advice. Our team of editors and writers have years of experience in testing products, particularly new Apple releases like the iPhone Duo and MacBook Neo, and put them through rigorous trials in real-world conditions.
Andrew Griffin has been technology editor at The Independent for more than a decade, reviewing everything from the latest iPhones to new headphones. As an avid music fan and audiophile, he has a particular interest in and experience of audio products – including the AirPods, which he has covered since their first launch almost ten years ago.
Read more: iPhone 18 Pro vs iPhone 17 Pro – is it worth the upgrade?
