Apple announced the AirPods 5 at its keynote in Cupertino tonight, introduced on stage at about 1:30am Malaysian time by the live blogs' clocks (Engadget, MacDailyNews) and confirmed in Apple's US press release. Apple Malaysia's own release, dated 10 September, prices them at RM599 for the AirPods 5 and RM699 for the AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case, with pre-orders in Malaysia opening on Friday 11 September and both models in stores from Friday 18 September. The new open-ear AirPods remove up to 50 percent more noise than the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation, and the US prices are USD 129 and USD 149.
Malaysia is named in Apple's release as one of the pre-order countries, and the in-store date here is the same Friday as the US. The Malaysian prices, dates and what they mean against our own 2024 record are in the Malaysia section below.
Table of Contents
What is new
- Noise cancellation on the cheapest AirPods. Both AirPods 5 models have ANC. Apple says it removes up to 50 percent more noise than the AirPods 4 with ANC, from a new multiport acoustic architecture and improved computational audio, and calls it the best ANC in an open-ear design; the footnote for that best-in-class claim says Apple tested in July 2026 to IEC 60268-24 against the best-selling wireless open-ear headphones on sale at the time.
- Transparency, Adaptive Audio, Conversation Awareness. A more natural Transparency mode, Adaptive Audio that blends ANC and Transparency to the room, and Conversation Awareness that lowers your media when you start talking.
- Sound. Apple says the acoustic architecture and next-generation Adaptive EQ were inspired by the AirPods Pro 3 and re-engineered for the open-ear fit, with Personalised Spatial Audio.
- Siri AI and Live Translation. Apple's US release says that with an Apple Intelligence iPhone, the new Siri (a beta in iOS 27 from Monday 14 September, English first) works hands-free from the earbuds, and you answer it by nodding or shaking your head. Live Translation starts by pressing both stems, by voice, or from the iPhone's Action button. Apple Malaysia's release mentions the head-gesture replies to Siri but does not mention Live Translation or Siri AI, and Apple's US release says Live Translation is not available in all languages or regions, so we are not assuming either works here at launch until Apple Malaysia's product page says so.
- Durability. Improved dust, sweat and water resistance; neither release states a rating.
- Battery. Both of Apple's releases rate only the Wireless Charging Case model: up to 5 hours with ANC on a charge, one hour longer than the AirPods 4 with ANC, and up to 22 hours with the case. Neither release gives a figure for the RM599 model beyond saying the RM699 model has the longer battery life; we will add Apple's rating for it when Apple Malaysia's specification page goes up.
The two models
| Model | Malaysia price | US price |
|---|---|---|
| AirPods 5 | RM599 | USD 129 |
| AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case | RM699 | USD 149 |
The RM699 model adds the wireless charging case (Apple Watch chargers, Qi and USB-C), the longer battery life, and a force sensor with volume swipe on the stem, which Apple says is a first for its open-ear AirPods. ANC, the new sound architecture and the Siri head gestures are on both.
What this means if you record on a phone
We shoot our own videos on iPhone, so the question we bring to any earbud launch is the microphone, and neither of Apple's releases says anything about microphone quality or recording on the AirPods 5. What Apple did say, in its iOS 26 announcement in June 2025, is that AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2 gained studio-quality audio recording and a camera remote that starts and stops an iPhone video from the stem. Apple has not said whether the AirPods 5 carry either feature, so we are not assuming it. We will test the microphone against a dedicated wireless mic once we have a pair, because on our own shoots, for an interview or a piece to camera, the gap between an earbud and a lavalier has been the gap between usable and clean.
Live Translation is the feature we would use, if it reaches Malaysia: for a creator who interviews in two or three languages in a day, a translation running in the ear during a conversation is a working tool, and it is now on the cheapest AirPods in the markets where Apple offers it.
Malaysia: price and date
Apple Malaysia's release prices the AirPods 5 at RM599 and the AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case at RM699. Pre-orders in Malaysia open on Friday 11 September, and both models are in stores from Friday 18 September.
| Model | Apple Malaysia price | Pre-order | In stores |
|---|---|---|---|
| AirPods 5 | RM599 | Friday 11 September | Friday 18 September |
| AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case | RM699 | Friday 11 September | Friday 18 September |
Apple's Malaysian store page for the AirPods 5 was not yet serving when we checked at 2:10am on 10 September, so apple.com/my/airpods is the page to watch for the pre-order on Friday.
Against our own record, RM599 is the same price Apple Malaysia's September 2024 release put on the AirPods 4, which had no noise cancellation, so the entry price of Apple's open-ear AirPods has not moved in two years while ANC has been added to it. The 2024 model with ANC, the AirPods 4 with ANC, came with a wireless charging case at RM829, so the like-for-like comparison is with the AirPods 5 with Wireless Charging Case at RM699: RM130 less than its 2024 equivalent. The cheapest way to get ANC on Apple's open-ear AirPods has therefore gone from RM829 to RM599, though the RM599 model has the standard case rather than the wireless one. The conversion is unchanged: USD 129 to RM599 is RM4.64 to the dollar, the same rate Apple Malaysia used for the AirPods 4 in 2024, and RM699 for the USD 149 model works out at RM4.69. Our keynote preview covers the rest of tonight, and our iPhone launch price record shows how Apple Malaysia has priced against the US dollar since 2017. Updated at 2:10am on 10 September with Apple Malaysia's confirmed prices and dates.
Every iPhone Pro since the iPhone 15 Pro shoots Apple Log, and the difference between footage that looks like a phone and footage that looks like cinema is not the phone, it is the workflow: exposing LOG on purpose, grading it, getting clean audio. That is exactly what our Pocket Cinematic course teaches, on the phone already in your pocket, the workflow we use on our own videos. The course page lists the founder price at RM349 with a free Hollyland Lark A1 mic while the founder boxes last.
