Amazon has announced its first foray into the world of true-wireless audio, with the launch of the Amazon Echo Buds at its annual hardware showcase in Seattle.
The new true wireless earbuds could pose a challenge for Apple – after all, its own buds, the Apple AirPods, are the current market leaders.
Based on rumors, we had expected biometric sensors to come to the Echo Buds, but it looks like Amazon has focused on audio fidelity rather than fitness tracking; each earbud has "two premium, balanced armature drivers, inspired by those used by professional musicians", according to the company.
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Noise cancelation from Bose
They also come with noise cancelation courtesy of Bose, specifically its Active Noise Reduction technology.
This can be controlled using the touch-sensitive housings on the outside of each earbud – Amazon says that, "with a double tap, you can turn on and off the noise reduction for pass through mode if you want to clearly hear the world around you".
You can also tap and hold to access your device's voice assistant – and that's even if you use Google Assistant or Apple's Siri, which is an interesting move from Amazon, considering its own voice assistant, Alexa, comes built into the Echo Buds.
Like the Apple AirPods, the Echo buds come with five hours of battery life, with a further 20 hours provided by the charging case.
They're slightly cheaper than Apple's earbuds though, coming in at $129.99. This works out at around £105 / AU$190, but we're still waiting on global pricing and availability.
Amazon says the Echo Buds are available to preorder in the US from today, and will ship "in time for the holidays".
