Nothing — the new gadgets brand from OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei — and all of the teases around the company's upcoming Ear (1) wireless earbuds reveal have gotten us excited. That’s especially true now that Nothing has revealed some of the key specs for its earbuds.
According to the company, the $99 Ear (1) wireless earbuds with active noise cancellation (ANC) will feature impressive battery life for budget-friendly buds, providing up to 24 hours of total battery life with ANC enabled and up to 34 hours of battery life without.
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That’s the total time provided by a full charge of the carrying case, which recharges your earbuds when not in use, much in the same way as Apple’s AirPods and many other wireless earbuds. We don’t yet know how long the buds can last in a single session without those on-the-go top-ups.
On top of that, the charging case has a 570 mAh battery within and can be wirelessly charged — a premium feature typically reserved for pricier earbuds than the Ear (1)'s expected cost. And just 10 minutes of charging the case will reportedly give you up to 6 hours of ANC-enabled playback, or up to 8 hours without ANC in use.
Nothing will reveal the full details around the Ear (1) earbuds at a July 27 event a week from now. Pei shared a look at the company’s Concept 1 earbuds back in March, but it’s currently unclear how much the finished project will resemble the bold look of the preview device.
Official photos of the Ear (1) charging case suggest a similarly translucent allure, although a teaser illustration from May shows a very different kind of stylized silhouette.
Earlier this month, Tom’s Guide Audio Editor James Archer wrote about his excitement over the Nothing Ear (1) buds, which promise active noise cancelling at a fraction of the price of the $249 AirPods Pro. It remains to be seen (and heard) whether Nothing's effort will match up to the fit, audio quality and ANC performance of Apple’s premium earbuds, however.
If you are also excited about the Nothing Ear (1), — so excited that you’re willing to shell out extra cash to own one of the first 100 pairs in existence— then you can drop a bid right now to secure a limited-edition model.
Nothing teamed up with apparel reseller StockX to offer the platform’s first-ever tech drop. The earbuds will sell to the top 100 bidders, with each case individually numbered to reflect the bidder’s place on that list. In other words, if you place the highest bid by the time the auction ends, then you’ll get the case marked “1/100.”
The auction runs into today (July 21), and the highest bid sits at $850 as of this writing. However, a bid just north of $200 as of now would still land you one of the 100 pairs. So be sure to take a look at the StockX auction if you want to trade the cash in your pocket for a little bit of Nothing.
