AirPods 4 Drop to New Low Price of $69 for Black Friday

Almost 50% off. I can't recall any Apple product getting anywhere close to that kind of sale.

The mark up must be insane...

Is the ANC on the 4s solid? Worth the $30 premium?

Absolutely - and it's not just robust ANC, but you also get: live translation capability, adaptive audio, conversation awareness (lowers music when you speak to someone), and a better case with wireless charging. For $30, it's a no-brainer.

The mark up must be insane...

It’s an Apple product. It’s been that way for decades… The Apple tax isn’t a joke.

They’re good, yes, but there’s still profit at half off, so that should say something.

Is buying from Amazon risk free? As in I won't get fake AirPods? With Amazon.com as the seller? Why do so many reviews claim that they received fake/tampered AirPods?

I feel like amazon reviewers simply don't check what they bought. they probably did buy fake ones and left a review under the real product thinking that's what they bought. Or some just simply think they're fake. I take most amazon reviews with a grain of salt and caution with they're probably not real reviews.

I would never buy anything Apple from Amazon.

I once purchased Apple Airpods from Amazon - these came from Amazon direct, not a third party seller. I specifically made sure they were Amazon supplied.
Used them as normal. After around 18 months I upgraded my iPhone and my Airpods would no longer connect to my new phone.
Went into Apple, who took a close look and couldn't work it out. They sad the airpods had been replaced an unusually high number of times. I said I had them since new and never replaced them before?! They said the left airpod was last replaced by 'Susan' a month ago. I said no, I don't know any Susan and I've had these Airpods for 18 months - even had the original Amazon invoice to show them!

Turned out the Airpods were fake. The guy at Apple was even shocked at how good of a clone they were. It seems the serial number had been cloned across a large number of units, hence the reason for the unusually high return rate on this serial. Basically I had a genuine serial on fake Airpods!
I complained to Amazon, who said they would take the Airpods back and have them repaired!!!
I said no, I paid for new Apple Airpods, not fakes. I no longer trusted them with a repair, or even a replacement.
In the end they refunded, and I repurchased from elsewhere.

Considering Amazon themselves were unknowingly supplying people with illegal clone products was enough to put me off. Hence I would never buy anything of great value from Amazon again, especially anything Apple.