According to Mark Gurman from Bloomberg, he expects the next generation of (the regular) AirPods to be announced as early as Wednesday, September 9, which is the likely date for Apple’s annual fall event.
Last week, code in the macOS 26.7 release candidate has references to two AirPods 5 models with the identifiers: B768M and B768E. Now those two models will likely be similar to what Apple has offered for the AirPods 4 lineup; one model will be without Active Noise Cancelation (ANC) and one with ANC along with other higher-end features.
The regular AirPods were last updated back in September 2024 with the fourth-generation model, and it seems every fall, Apple has announced some new model of AirPods:
- October 2021 – AirPods 3
- September 2022 – AirPods Pro 2
- September 2023 – AirPods Pro 2 (with USB-C charging case)
- September 2024 – AirPods 4
- September 2025 – AirPods Pro 3
It’s unclear what new features the AirPods 5 are going to have, but the AirPods 5 could have a built-in heart rate sensor, similar to that of the AirPods Pro 3. The higher-tier model of the AirPods 5 could probably have improved Active Noise Cancelation as well. I highly doubt the AirPods 5 will have some sort of Ultra Wideband chip, as Apple continues to reserve that for the AirPods Pro. Currently, the AirPods 4 retail for $129 (non-ANC) and $179 (ANC), so we’ll likely see the same starting prices as before.
