Apple's two best in-ear headphones both offer active noise cancellation, but there are some important differences you'll want to consider before making a purchase.

Open-ear earbuds are more comfortable to wear for most, but it used to mean no active noise cancellation — until now.

In California, in the wake of its launch event, Apple told us how the AirPods 4 were designed and what changes have been made to achieve noise cancellation in an open-ear design.

Active noise cancellation is the most significant difference between the two models, but it's far from the only one.