A couple of big leaks for the OnePlus Buds have revealed the price range and the design of the earbuds themselves and their charging case, just a day before the OnePlus Nord launch. We've also heard about some extra features the OnePlus Buds have to take on Apple's AirPods.
The first tease comes from OnePlus itself, which in an Instagram post says that the price for the OnePlus Buds will be "$XX.XX". That means the price should be under $100. By comparison, the AirPods with charging case costs $129 ($159 full retail price).
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The renders come to us courtesy of Max Weinbach, who posted them on Twitter after extracting them from the APK file of the most recent update for the OnePlus 8. Since the images look similar to previous OnePlus Buds leaks, and Weinbach has repeatedly proved to be a reliable leaker, we have little reason to doubt the veracity of the pictures.
To start with, we can see there are three colors to choose from for the Buds: all-white, black with red trim or turquoise with yellow trim. White and black are very common colors for earbuds, but the blue option is quite striking. Nobody's going to mistake these for AirPods when you wear them out in the street.
The buds themselves look to have a fixed tip design with a long stem, much like the AirPods or rivals like the Huawei FreeBuds 3. OnePlus claimed in a blog post that the Buds have been designed to sit securely in as many ear shapes as possible, so hopefully a lack of gel tips won't matter.
Also present on the Buds is a large metallic circle, which 9to5Google points out helps tie the Buds to the other main member of the OnePlus audio family, the OnePlus Bullets Wireless 2.
The case matches these colors, and has a rough oval shape with a charging indicator light on one side and the OnePlus logo, hinge, and what looks to be a Bluetooth pairing button on the other. This case gives the Buds a combined total of 30 hours of battery life, based on what OnePlus has already disclosed about the Buds, which could make them the longest-lasting true wireless earbuds on the market once they launch. It has also promised rapid charging too, offering 10 hours of playback from just 10 minutes of charging.
As well as the renders, Weinbach found a couple of illustrations that appear to show the Buds will have tap-to-pause controls and will stop playing when removed from the user's ears. These aren't particularly unique features, but they are certainly useful, and it's good to see that OnePlus has implemented them on the Buds.
We've also been promised other features that will benefit OnePlus phone users too, such as an ultra-low-latency mode for when you're playing games while wearing the Buds. 9to5Google also found evidence of Dolby Atmos support, which will offer virtual surround sound to the Buds, great for watching movies on your phone.
OnePlus' Nord launch event takes place tomorrow, and is where we will see both the OnePlus Buds and the company's new mid-range phone. Just like the Buds, the Nord sounds like an excellent all-new product for the company, offering a big 6.4-inch 90Hz display, quad rear cameras, dual front cameras and a large battery with fast charging.
While it will take some doing to compete with Apple's iPhone SE (2020) and the long-awaited Google Pixel 4a, the Nord's specs have us hopeful. And the OnePlus Buds could be a perfect partner to the Nord.
