Nothing is borrowing a strategy from its founder Carl Pei’s previous gig at OnePlus: dribbling technical details ahead of a product launch. The startup has revealed that its Ear 1 true wireless earbuds will include three-microphone active noise cancellation at a price of $99 (£99). That’s not dramatically more affordable than value-for-money rivals like Amazon’s second-gen Echo Buds, but it’s certainly low enough to get your attention if you’re cost-conscious.
The company will formally unveil the Ear 1 at a launch event on July 27th. To date, the buds are known to include a partially transparent Teenage Engineering design and will boast “leading specs,” although it’s not clear what that entails beyond ANC.
The challenge, as you might guess, is delivering quality that matches the hype. ANC will help isolate music and podcasts, but it won’t matter as much if the sound quality is merely so-so. Nothing will have to show that it can deliver solid sound at its asking price, particularly if it’s going to compete against the likes of the Echo Buds or Google’s Pixel Buds A.