Wireless earbuds are all the rage right now, even if some of them might kinda sorta like something Apple's put out. Huawei's latest offerings, the FreeBuds 3, are tackling one of Apple's most successful products with a few extra features to try and tempt people over.
Noise-canceling, truly wireless
Like similar competitors, the FreeBuds 3 are totally wireless earbuds that come with a charging case. Personally, I don't know that I'm crazy about that circular charging case that Huawei's using; it sort of looks like a small makeup mirror, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I also don't know how well that's going to fit in my pocket.
Besides the case, though, these things do really look like AirPods. Under the hood there are some key differences, though, with Huawei utilizing a 14mm driver, a custom chip for Bluetooth 5.1 and BLE support, and the ability to use both earbuds independently of each other.
But perhaps the biggest selling point of the FreeBuds 3 is the noise-canceling that Huawei has built-in. They're not the only brand to do this with totally wireless earbuds (Sony's newest models come to mind) but they are one of the few to be able to do it, and that's going to be a pretty helpful feature to help them stand out in a very crowded market. Although that's not something Huawei typically struggles with.
Pricing and availability
Huawei hasn't announced exactly when these will be available, but with the Mate 30 Pro launch you can most likely expect to see a big marketing push with the FreeBuds 3 advertised alongside them.
It's a pretty advanced little set of headphones, so I think they'll still be priced a bit above Apple's $159 AirPods. The charging case uses USB-C and can be wirelessly charged, so I think they'll sit closer to Sony's newest $229 earbuds.
Keep an eye out, and we'll keep you posted. For everything else that was announced at IFA 2019, be sure to check out our full coverage!
