Author: Merrel Briona

Anker Japan will launch “Anker Sleep Earbuds 4,” a new model of fully wireless earbuds designed to be worn while sleeping, in January 2027. The price is ¥34,880 (approximately $220), tax included. In the “sleep earbuds” market aimed at improving sleep quality, the new model improves both fit and noise reduction performance over the previous model.

The color lineup consists of three options: off-white, pastel pink, and pastel blue. Off-white will go on sale in January 2027, with pastel pink and pastel blue expected to become available from February 2027.

Contact area with the ear reduced by 20%

The new model is positioned as the successor to the “Sleep A30” developed under the Soundcore brand. While the weight per earbud is unchanged from the previous model at about 3 grams, the housing shape has been redesigned. Based on ear-shape data from more than 10,000 people, it adopts a two-tier structure with a stepped design. The contact area with the ear is reduced by about 20% versus the previous model, making the ears less likely to hurt even when sleeping on one’s side.

In terms of sound quality, the placement of the driver unit and microphones has been optimized. The Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) function, carried over from the previous model, has been enhanced, particularly in reducing low-to-mid frequency noise such as the operating sounds of home appliances, outdoor traffic noise, and people’s voices. The reduction amount reaches up to 5dB versus the previous model, according to the company.

Two connection methods can be used selectively. The earbuds feature a “Bluetooth mode” for pairing with a smartphone and other devices, and a “local playback mode” for playing sleep-inducing music or noise stored in built-in memory. They support Bluetooth 6.0 and the SBC and AAC codecs.

With ANC on, continuous playback time is up to about 8 hours for the earbuds alone in Bluetooth mode, and about 32 hours with the charging case. In local playback mode, it is up to about 9.5 hours for the earbuds alone and about 38 hours with the case. The charging case now supports wireless charging. Weight including the case is about 58 grams. The earbuds come with five sizes of silicone ear tips and four sizes of ear wings. A separately sold dedicated foam ear tip is also available.

Sleep-support functions have also been expanded. The charging case is equipped with a “snore masking function” that, when it detects snoring nearby, plays a masking sound at a volume and pitch suited to covering the snoring while adjusting it in real time. The earbuds also feature an alarm that sounds only from the earbuds themselves, a sleep report based on built-in sensors, automatic stopping of music at sleep onset, and a function that plays a sound to help locate the earbuds. Settings are configured through the “Anker Soundcore” mobile app. The earbuds have IPX4-equivalent splash resistance.

Key specs compared with the previous model are as follows.

Note: Based on the company’s announcement. Continuous playback times are figures for the earbuds alone.

The company has also announced the launch of a higher-end model, “Anker Sleep Earbuds 4 Pro.” It adopts a high-precision sleep analysis function using an optical heart rate sensor and a case equipped with an AMOLED display that can show sleep data and settings. It is scheduled for release around spring 2027 at ¥49,990 (approximately $310), tax included.

Headphones and ear-cuff earbuds also introduced

Anker Japan also brought audio products other than sleep-oriented ones to market the same day. The wireless headphones “Anker Space 2 Pro” are priced at ¥32,990 (approximately $210), tax included, and the ear-cuff earbuds “Anker AeroClip 2” at ¥22,990 (approximately $140), tax included; both went on sale on November 12.

The Space 2 Pro is equipped with the company’s proprietary AI chip “Thus” and eight microphones, raising noise cancellation performance to about 1.5 times that of the previous model (20Hz–2kHz). It features 35mm drivers and supports LDAC and 3D audio. Playback time with ANC on is up to 30 hours.

The AeroClip 2 is the successor to the “Soundcore AeroClip,” with the part that clips onto the ear made about 20% thinner to improve fit. It is equipped with 12mm drivers and supports LDAC, and uses the AI chip “Thus,” four microphones, and two bone-conduction sensors to reduce noise during calls. The charging case is about 20% smaller and supports wireless charging.

In the sleep earbuds space, companies are rolling out products amid growing demand for better sleep. Anker Japan is moving its sleep-specific “Sleep” series from the Soundcore brand to the Anker brand, broadening its price range with a two-model lineup that includes the higher-end model. With the main unit priced in the upper ¥30,000 range—above typical fully wireless earbuds—the key to sales will be how much consumers recognize the value of the sleep use case. For the company, the aim appears to be to solidify its position in the sleep earbuds market, including steering customers toward the Pro model with its sleep data analysis and display functions.

The Apache HTTP Server development project released its latest version, 2.4.71, on November 11. The release follows the discovery of a critical vulnerability (CVE-2026-119618) in the HTTP/2 support module “mod_http2” that can lead to remote code execution (RCE), and the project has classified the severity as “critical.” Versions 2.4.55 through 2.4.70 are affected, and affected environments are urged to update to the fixed version.

The root cause is improper synchronization of concurrent processing of shared resources. This can corrupt the heap and allow externally injected code to be executed. An attacker only needs to be able to reach the server without authentication, and a successful exploit could give full control of the server process. In its own assessment, Red Hat gave the vulnerability a CVSS score of 9.8 out of 10 and noted that “reliable exploits have been demonstrated in public research” against servers in default configurations with mod_http2 enabled. However, it did not provide the name or link of the specific research. Security firm Wiz, by contrast, said the same day that no exploitable proof-of-concept exists and that there have been no reports of exploitation in real-world environments, indicating a divergence in assessments. According to Wiz’s analysis, 64% of cloud environments contain resources affected by the vulnerability, and 51% have internet-exposed instances. It noted, however, that these figures do not take into account configurations such as whether HTTP/2 is enabled or disabled.

The scope of impact extends beyond the Apache HTTP Server itself. The standalone module “mod_h2,” published on GitHub, is also affected in versions 2.0.8 through 2.0.42. However, that repository has been read-only since it was archived on June 9, and no fixed version has been published. Servers using the standalone module must also mitigate the risk through the configuration changes described below.

In addition to the critical issue, the release fixes two other bugs. A NULL pointer dereference in mod_md (CVE-2026-106023), which handles automatic certificate acquisition and renewal, crashes a child process while processing an HTTP request; its severity is “important,” and versions 2.4.30 through 2.4.70 are affected. The other is a one-byte buffer overwrite in mod_vhost_alias (CVE-2026-109163), with a severity of “low”; versions 2.4.69 and 2.4.70 are affected.

The three vulnerabilities fixed in 2.4.71 are as follows.

The vulnerability discoverers listed are Anthropic’s “OSS Scanner” (management number ANT-2026-MAPKT6MZ) and two researchers from Google Cloud Vulnerability Research. The reports were filed on October 26 by Anthropic and on November 3 by the Google side; the fix was committed to the source code on November 11, and 2.4.71 was released the same day.