OnePlus could be making a rival to the Apple AirPods, a new source claims. According to the intel they provided, the new true wireless earbuds could be available starting in July, and could very likely be released alongside the new OnePlus Z smartphone.
That’s all based on information obtained by Twitter user Max J who spoke to a “new but seemingly reliable source” privy to the information.
Two things lend some truth to the claim: Max J found a teaser image for the earbuds all the way back in December and OnePlus is obviously having success in the wireless headphone space since it released the OnePlus Bullets Wireless 2.
The idea that the company is working on a true wireless version of its successful wireless earbuds really isn’t that much of a stretch, and makes sense considering how many other companies are breaking into the space.
Episode OnePlus: Attack of the Clones
It's understandable if your knee-jerk reaction to this news is 'Oh no, not another pair of true wireless earbuds' but you can’t fault a headphone maker for following the trend. That’s true now as OnePlus prepares to follow the crowd of other true wireless earbud manufacturers, and it was true a few years ago when Apple followed others who were already making them.
What is fair to say now, however, is that the onus is on OnePlus to attempt to innovate on the myriad models already out there or potentially face lower-than-average sales as people buy off-brand instead to save some money.
Thankfully, OnePlus has done well to innovate in the past by implementing Warp Charge (10 hours of playback from 10 minutes of charge) and a triple-armature driver structure that made their OnePlus Bullets Wireless 2 sound great – so it’s likely that the company will find some way to innovate with their successors, too.
Either way, if the rumors about the AirPods rivals are true and the earbuds are announced in July, we won’t have to wonder about them for very long.
- Ready to cut the cord? Here are the best true wireless earbuds you can buy
