This Black Friday-beating AirPods 4 price drop makes them great value just in time for Christmas

(Image credit: Future/Lance Ulanoff)

We didn't see any good price cuts on Apple's AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation over Black Friday – which is understandable since they only came out in September, but in my AirPods 4 with ANC review, I said their biggest problem is that they don't look like great value when AirPods Pro 2 are constantly reduced to the same price as them, if not cheaper. But now, this deal fixes that!

You can get the AirPods 4 with ANC for $139 at Amazon, reduced from $179. They fell to $165 over Black Friday, but we didn't exactly class that as a blockbuster deal… this is the kind of price I think works for these buds, compared to the other AirPods options.

Speaking of, I should mention that AirPods Pro 2 are currently $169 at Amazon, which is $15 more than they cost over Black Friday, but is still $80 lower than MSRP, and I totally recommend them for that price.

Today's best AirPods deals

If you want Apple's open-ear fit (without the in-ear tip) with active noise cancellation, these are the buds for you. They were $169 during Black Friday, so this is an all-new lowest-seen price on Apple's newest earbuds! They have Personalized Spatial Audio, Find My in the case (including a speaker), wireless charging. auto-switching between Apple devices, and more. They sound good, too, with plenty of detail and dynamic range. This is the right kind of price for them in the current market, I think they're a good buy.

You might be wondering where the cheaper AirPods 4 model without ANC is, among all these price cuts. They're available for $119 from Amazon, a $10 discount, but I'd encourage everyone to spend the extra on the version with ANC.

I enjoyed the AirPods 4 with ANC a lot when I tested them, and it's amazing how well the noise cancellation works considering they don't use in-ear tips to create a strong seal against the outside world. And I was very pleasantly surprised when testing their battery life to discover that Apple's disappointing four-hour quoted battery life was a drastic under-estimate, because I got 6.5 hours of playback with the noise cancellation active.

Comparing the AirPods 4 with ANC directly to the AirPods Pro 2, the Pro 2 definitely have a little extra clarity and expansiveness in their sound, and the in-ear fit means the noise cancellation is stronger. I also really value the UWB location tracking in the case that means your iPhone can literally point you to whichever coat pocket you've left them in.

However, the AirPods 4 with ANC's case is so tiny that I love it, and for $30 cheaper, I can totally see lots of people preferring them – especially if you like the open-ear fit over the in-ear tips. I called the AirPods 4 with ANC "the best open-ear buds for iPhone", and that's even more true at $139!

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Matt is TechRadar's Managing Editor for Entertainment, meaning he's in charge of persuading our team of writers and reviewers to watch the latest TV shows and movies on gorgeous TVs and listen to fantastic speakers and headphones. It's a tough task, as you can imagine. Matt has over a decade of experience in tech publishing, and previously ran the TV & audio coverage for our colleagues at T3.com, and before that he edited T3 magazine. During his career, he's also contributed to places as varied as Creative Bloq, PC Gamer, PetsRadar, MacLife, and Edge. TV and movie nerdism is his speciality, and he goes to the cinema three times a week. He's always happy to explain the virtues of Dolby Vision over a drink, but he might need to use props, like he's explaining the offside rule.