Xiaomi unveils first earbuds with Wi-Fi, delivering hi-res audio up to 4.2Mbps

• Lossless audio over Wi-Fi without ruining battery life
• Very limited phone compatibility and definitely no iPhones
• £159 / £189 (about $200 / $240)

Xiaomi's new Buds 5 Pro have launched in Europe and are available in two flavors, the standard Buds 5 Pro and the Buds 5 Pro Wi-Fi. Both models have a very impressive specification, but the Wi-Fi ones are particularly impressive: they're capable of delivering lossless audio at up to 4.2Mbps over their Wi-Fi connection. That's way beyond anything the best Bluetooth headphones can deliver.

The Buds 5 Pro Wi-Fi have Qualcomm's S7 Pro chip and Qualcomm's Snapdragon Sound Technology Suite, which supports audio at up to 96kHz/24-bit. However there's a caveat: it'll only work with certain smartphones. Xiaomi says it'll post a list of compatible devices on its website imminently. Right now the only supported phones are the Xiaomi 15 and 15 Ultra.

Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro and Buds 5 Pro Wi-Fi: features and pricing

The Buds 5 Pro are based around 11mm dynamic drivers with a PZT tweeter and planar driver, and they support aptX Adaptive and aptX Lossless. Bluetooth is 5.4 and the built-in ANC is capable of removing noise up to 55dB. The buds also offer AI features including real-time translation.

Surprisingly, the Wi-Fi models have even better battery life than the Bluetooth-only ones: ten hours compared to eight, with a total of 40 hours via the charging case.

The Buds Pro 5 are £159.99 (about $200 or AU$325) and you can have them in white or gray; the Buds Pro 5 Wi-Fi are £189.99 (around $240 or AU$385).

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