If OnePlus Buds Pro 3 aren't about to launch, I'll eat my wireless earbuds

(Image credit: OnePlus / Smartprix)

If there's one thing we know about leaks, it's that they mean something big is coming: a big bill from a plumber if it's a leak in your home, and a big product announcement if it's a leak from a tech firm. So it's pretty clear that OnePlus is gearing up for the official launch of its OnePlus Buds Pro 3: pretty much every detail of the upcoming earbuds has leaked already, including accidentally published product pages from online retailers. So it's less a case of "are the OnePlus Buds Pro 3 about to launch?", more "precisely when will the OnePlus Buds Pro 3 launch?"

We don't know the exact date yet but it's clearly soon: even the price has leaked, with a stated price of €199 (about $215/£170/$330 AUD). So here's what you can feign surprise about when OnePlus finally takes the wraps off its bid to feature in our best noise-cancelling earbuds guide.

OnePlus Buds Pro 3: key features and specs

The Buds Pro 3 look nearly identical to the OnePlus Buds 3, but this time the stems are made from polished metal and the base has a matte coating. The case is more egg-shaped than the current more boxy design, and at 65 x 52 x 26mm with a 61g weight, it's slightly longer and heavier too.

The buds reportedly have a dual-driver setup with a 6mm tweeter and an 11mm woofer, and there's support for the LDAC-rivalling LHDC codec for high resolution audio. ANC? Naturally, this solution could apparently block up to 50dB of unwanted audio, marginally more than that of the OnePlus Buds Pro 2, and voice canceling that's "twice as effective".

One of the key marketing points is the presence of "Dynaudio EQ", aka EQ presets. There's also dual-connection Bluetooth, IP55 water and dust resistance and Bluetooth 5.4 with low-latency, stable connections listed in the leak. Battery life is believed to be 43 hours via the case, and a 10-minute fast charge should deliver 5 hours of playback.

In our Buds Pro 2 review, we were fairly impressed, but we felt that the sound quality was lacking. If OnePlus has managed to nail that on this third attempt, these could be impressive earbuds – although as our best earbuds guide demonstrates, they're up against some serious competition there.

Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than a dozen books. Her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, is on sale now and her next book, about pop music, is out in 2025. She is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind.