The Apple AirPods may among the most popular true wireless earbuds in the world, but their all-white aesthetic doesn't exactly make our hearts race with excitement when we take them out of their charging case – and it's a similar story across the personal audio market, which is flooded with minimalist monochrome earbuds.
Swedish company Urbanears has gone its own way, however, with its latest true wireless earbuds, which come in fashion-forward pastel hues that should give you ears a little burst of color when you pop them in – and they're much cheaper than the AirPods too.
- Read our Apple AirPods review
- Or, check out the noise-cancelling AirPods Pro
- Apple AirPods 3: everything we know so far
The Urbanears Luma will set you back $99.99 / £79.99 (around AU$150) when they become available to buy in the next few months, according to the audio brand.
While an increasing number of budget-friendly true wireless earbuds are infiltrating the market, it's still fairly rare to find a good pair for under £100 / $100. In fact, only three models at this price have made it onto our round up of the best true wireless earbuds – the Cambridge Audio Melomania 1, the Lypertek Tevi, and the SoundMAGIC TWS50.
Other models we've tested at lower prices have often fallen short in terms of audio quality and battery life – however, a quick glance of the Urbanears Luma's specs looks fairly promising.
Urbanears says that the earbuds boast up to 25 hours of playtime – about the same as the AirPods and the AirPods Pro – and will pair with your phone automatically when you take them out of their charging case.
The Urbanears Luma also feature touch-sensitive stems that allow you to control phone calls and your music playback, while a wear-detect sensor should automatically pause your music when you remove an earbud.
An IPX4 rating means that these buds could be used for working out, as they should be able to withstand a little sweat or a drop of rain.
Puzzlingly, Urbanears hasn't offered any information on the level of sound quality we can expect – for that, we'll need to test them out ourselves.
A cheaper alternative
The Luma aren't the only true wireless earbuds that the Swedish audio company is launching; it's also announced the Urbanears Alby, which are even cheaper at $69 / £59.99 (about AU$100).
These buds look a little more like the AirPods Pro than the original AirPods, with interchangeable silicone eartips that should offer a snug fit. They also come with a far lower battery life (15 hours), and don't feature the wear-detect sensors that their sibling sports.
Again, there's no information on the kind of audio tech these earbuds are packing, so we'll have to reserve judgement until we can try them for ourselves.
- In the meantime, check out the best true wireless earbuds of 2020
