OnePlus will allegedly unveil truly wireless earbuds
Despite initial reports that OnePlus was not planning to release truly wireless earbuds this year, a tweet from Twitter tipster Max J. indicates that there might have been a change in plans. The tweet contains an image of two earbuds in a carrying case that looks somewhat familiar. Yes, these appear to be two truly wireless earbuds that do resemble Apple's AirPods. The word from the tipster is that these are on track for a July introduction.
OnePlus could be copying from stablemate Oppo once again
Max J. adds that the new accessory will be known as the OnePlus Buds. Currently, OnePlus users who wish to keep their accessories coming from the company that produces their phones, are stuck with the $99 OnePlus Bullets Wireless 2. Technically wireless because there is no wired connection to a phone, there is still a wire that connects the left and right buds. Thus, OnePlus appears to be following in the footprints of Google whose original generation Pixel Buds had a similar design to the Bullets Wireless. But the second-generation Pixel Buds are totally wireless and if the image on the tweet from Max J. proves to be true, so will the OnePlus Buds.
The Oppo Enco Free wireless earbuds resemble the sketch in Max J.'s tweet seen at the top of this article
Of course, nothing has been announced by OnePlus which means that all of this needs to be filed under "S" for speculation. Reports that OnePlus was not planning to release a truly wireless pair of earbuds were first disseminated early last month prior to the introduction of the OnePlus 8 and OnePlus 8 Pro. At the time, it seemed likely that whatever new in-ear accessory OnePlus was going to announce would take place at that time. If the earbuds unveiling does take place in July, it could come at the same time that OnePlus announced its new mid-range model, the OnePlus Z.
The latest rumors call for the phone to be powered by the Snapdragon 765 chipset instead of MediaTek's Dimensity 1000; both chips feature 5G modem chip integration. The mid-range handset is expected to sport a 6.4-inch AMOLED display with an FHD+ resolution weighing in at 1080 x 2400. The 20:9 aspect ratio should result in a tall and thin display. The phone should have 8GB of memory (LPDDR4 RAM for you enthusiasts out there) and 128GB of non-expandable storage. The cameras found on the back of the device are rumored to include a 48MP primary camera, a 12MP telephoto camera, and a 16MP ultra-wide camera. The front-facing punch-hole selfie snapper will probably weigh in at 32MP and a 4000mAh battery will keep the lights on. Android 10 should be pre-installed. Pricing could be in the range of $450.
The OnePlus Buds, without the silicon tips available for the AirPods Pro, seem to resemble the standard AirPods wireless Bluetooth earbuds. Considering that the OnePlus 8 supports wireless charging, we would expect that there will be a wireless charging case available for the accessory. Apple prices the AirPods with a wireless charging case at $199 and we wonder whether OnePlus will be able to price their buds closer to the $100 area.
Another reason to expect the OnePlus Buds to resemble the AirPods is that the Oppo Enco Free wireless earbuds have that AirPods form factor. That carries a lot of weight because Oppo and OnePlus are both stablemates of BBK Electronics. In the past, some features found on Oppo handsets have made their way to an upcoming OnePlus phone. Take the pop-up selfie camera on the OnePlus 7 Pro. That feature was on the Oppo F11 Pro introduced in March 2019; two months later, the OnePlus 7 Pro was unveiled with a pop-up selfie camera. It should be noted that there similarities between the Oppo Enco Free and the sketch shared by Max J.
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