The AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation distinguish themselves from their predecessors with a new design that looks similar, but changes enough to sit differently in the ear. Shape is crucial with these hard-shell earbuds since they don’t have gummy tips like the AirPods Pro to create a tight seal and keep them firmly in place.

But open-ear designs like the AirPods 4 are tricky because they don't fully seal your ears, leaving 'em somewhat exposed. However, Apple managed to pull it off, thanks to a mélange of upgraded microphones, the H2 processor, and cutting-edge computational audio.

From the outside, you won’t spot any drastic changes from the AirPods 3. Apple has continued to tweak the shape and contours of the earbuds for the best possible fit, and the charging case is now smaller than ever. (And yes, it’s got a USB-C connector this time.) But these still look the part of AirPods — and they still only come in white.