The hotly anticipated OnePlus Buds could come with support for Dolby Atmos spatial audio, according to a deep dive into the APK for the latest OnePlus 8 update by 9to5Google.
The APK, which also revealed some of the best images we've seen so far of the true wireless earbuds, included a "direct mention of Dolby Atmos support", as well as "what appeared to be different equalizer settings".
- The best true wireless earbuds of 2020
- Read our Apple AirPods Pro review
- Apple AirPods vs AirPods Pro: which buds are best?
This could put the OnePlus Buds in direct competition with the Apple AirPods Pro, which are set to receive a hefty firmware upgrade, bringing immersive Dolby Atmos sound to the noise-cancelling wireless earbuds.
Funnily enough, the software appeared to refer to the upcoming earbuds as the “OnePlus Pods”, suggesting OnePlus took influence from Apple in their creation.
We don't know yet whether the OnePlus Buds will also come with active noise cancellation, though GSM Arena has reported that the earbuds will be able to apply noise cancellation to your phone calls.
Quick charging
Other features revealed in the APK include a “Find my Device” option, as well as illustrations depicting fast pairing and touch controls on the outside of the earbuds.
The APK also gave us a glimpse of some of the colors we can expect the OnePlus Buds to come in, including white, black, and light blue, as well a good look at the charging case.
In what looks like a matte finish, the charging case sports a rounded design, with a LED on the front that will presumably tell you how much battery life you have left.
The OnePlus Buds are set to have battery life that doesn’t disappoint with seven-hour playback on a single charge, and in an exclusive interview with TechRadar, OnePlus Buds' Project Manager Jay Liu revealed the charging case will utilize the company’s Warp Charge technology to go from no charge to 10 hours of total battery in just 10 minutes.
Set to launch on July 21, the OnePlus Buds price is still a mystery – but if the brand can offer all of that at a lower price than the AirPods Pro, it could be on to a real winner.
