AirPods 4 have a secret button and something special for Vision Pro users too

(Image credit: Apple)

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Great news for the many millions of people who bought Vision Pro as their main Apple Music device: the new AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation will deliver lossless audio with ultra-low latency when you connect them to your headset, a feature that was previously limited to the USB-C version of AirPods Pro 2.

That means that Apple's cheapest $129 AirPods now outperform the $549 AirPods Max with USB-C, which don't deliver lossless. Although, to be fair, the Max aren't exactly the ideal shape for sticking on top of a headset.

That's not the only new feature in the new AirPods 4. There's also a change to the button on the charging case. Where previously the button was just a button, it's now a capacitive button. Not only that, but where previous buttons were on the back, this one's on the front of the case, just below the status light. If I were Tim Cook I'd be using words like "magical", "amazing" and "incredible" right now.

What does the new AirPods 4 button do?

AirPods 4 tour in case — (Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol)

As before, the button is there so you can easily pair your AirPods with your iPhone, iPad or Mac if it doesn't pair automatically. According to Macotakara, pairing is just a matter of double-tapping when you open the case and see the status light. And Gear Patrol adds that you can use it to factory reset your AirPods 4 by long-pressing or triple-pressing the new button. The site also says that the new AirPods' status light is much more discreet than before and appears to vanish completely when you close the charging case.

We're impressed by what we've seen and heard of the AirPods 4 so far: if you don't like ear tips or the price of the AirPods Pro 2, the $179 ANC version of these new buds is good value for money; if you don't ANC then $129 for the more basic model is a pretty great price for AirPods sound. And because they have the same H2 chip as the AirPods Pro 2 they'll benefit from the same AirPods update we wrote about yesterday with gesture controls for hands-free Siri.

AirPods Pro 4 are available for pre-order now and will be available in stores from 20 September.

Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than a dozen books. Her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, is on sale now and her next book, about pop music, is out in 2025. She is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind.