Apple is kicking off the new year with a fun, limited-edition pair of AirPods, but you’ll probably have trouble getting your hands on them. As spotted by MacRumors on Friday, Apple is selling Year of the Snake Special Edition AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation in celebration of the Lunar New Year (or Spring Festival) on January 29, 2025.
For now, the themed AirPods 4 are only available in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore, so you can’t buy them directly from Apple anywhere in North America or Europe.
In the territories where these AirPods are available, they cost the same as the standard model. They also offer all of the same features — the only difference is an engraving of a snake on the AirPods 4 wireless charging case (and a red snake on the packaging).
Other than that, these are the exact same AirPods 4 that we awarded 4.5 stars to in our review last year. As we said at the time, there is plenty of competition in this price range when it comes to wireless headphones, but the AirPods 4 are “a meaningful upgrade over the base AirPods 4, considering the addition of wireless charging and ANC.”
MacRumors explains that releasing special edition AirPods is a tradition for Apple. The company has previously released AirPods to celebrate the Year of the Dragon, Year of the Ox, Year of the Tiger, and Year of the Rabbit, but they were all AirPods Pro.
Apple’s Year of the Snake AirPods 4 are on sale now and begin shipping on January 8.
