On 3 March 2015, the X4 was formally unveiled under the H160 designation. Cutting-edge features, including proposed highly advanced control systems, were toned down or eliminated as too risky or costly. The development program for the X4 cost EUR1 billion ($1.12 billion). It was also announced that the X4 would be introduced in two stages: an interim model in 2017 with some of the advanced features absent, and a more advanced model following in 2020. The X4 was also described as having a 'radically different' cockpit, Bertling stating that 'The cockpit as we know it today will not be there'. Early features alluded to include Blue Edge active tracking rotor blades, advanced pilot assistance functionality, and reduced vibration to 'near-jet' levels of smoothness. Speaking in early 2011, Eurocopter (later renamed as Airbus Helicopters) chief Lutz Bertling declared that the X4 would be a 'game changer', contrasting significance of the innovations it would feature with Airbus' development of fly-by-wire controls.

The Airbus Helicopters H160 was first revealed to the public in 2011, at which point it was referred to by company representatives by the designation X4 - a designation which implied it to be a follow-on from the Eurocopter X3, a high-speed hybrid helicopter technology demonstrator. Airbus Helicopters H160 mockup at the 2015 Dubai Airshow.

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