In case you’ve yet to be formally introduced, the Mobile World Congress (or MWC 2025, as the public has taken to calling it) is in full swing in Barcelona, and although you can certainly check out a more general top 10 tech launches we tried on the show floor, if you’d like, this particular roundup is for the audiophiles among us.
If you care about the first Wi-Fi earbuds capable of hi-res audio up to 4.2Mbps, a set of buds with a whopping 95 hour battery life whose case also doubles as your phone’s power bank, or a lovely pair of open earbuds – the kind that leave your ear canal untouched – with a case so thin you’d think it must contain an eyeshadow palette rather than fully-featured noise-cancelling earbuds, this feature is for you.
And remember, they’ve all been unveiled in the past couple of days. Sound good? Keep reading…
1. Earbuds that’ll last for 4 days solid – and charge your ailing iPhone
HMD’s Amped Buds are not your average earbuds: aside from the unusual hinged driver housing design (instead of the ergonomic curvature of those AirPods tails) their charging clearly resembles power bank – because as well as housing the buds, that’s what it is.
Specifically, it is a Qi2 wireless power bank with a beefy 1,600mAh battery – so beefy in fact that if you’re only using it to charge your buds, you’ll get almost 100 hours of playback from them before you’ll need to seek out its USB-C charger.
OK, dedicated power bank batteries are bigger still (they tend to list multiples of 10,000mAh on the spec-sheet) but it’ll replenish a new iPhone by about 20% – and come on, when have you ever thought to yourself ‘Oh no! My phone’s low on juice… I know, I’ll charge it using my earbuds case’?
Elsewhere, you’re getting 10mm drivers, Bluetooth 5.4 with fast pairing, Snapdragon Sound support, three mics for clear voice calling and an IP54 rating for dust- and water ingress.
No specifics on US or Australian launches and pricing right now, but HMD’s Amped Buds will be £179.99 in the UK and €199.99 in Europe.
Read the full story: These wireless earbuds have a case that doubles as a phone power bank, offering up to 95 hours of playback
2. Xiaomi upping the ante for hi-res audio without wires
Want lossless audio over Wi-Fi, without draining your battery life? Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro can handle it. They’re new and they come in two flavors: a standard Buds 5 Pro and a Buds 5 Pro Wi-Fi – and it’s the Wi-Fi ones we want to draw your attention to, since they’re able to dish up lossless audio at up to 4.2Mbps using their Wi-Fi connectivity (read: far exceeding anything the best Bluetooth headphones can deliver, in terms of hi-res audio).
Any big issues? One: they’ll only work with certain smartphones. Xiaomi says a list of compatible devices is coming, but you should know that right now, the only known supported phones are, ahem, the Xiaomi 15 and Xiaomi 15 Ultra (spoiler alert: your iPhone won’t be supported).
Oh, and the Wi-Fi model has even better battery life than the Bluetooth-only option: 10 hours compared to eight from the buds, with a total of 40 hours via the charging case. Pricing? Of course, the Buds Pro 5 Wi-Fi are £189.99 (which is around $240 or AU$385).
Learn more: Xiaomi unveils first earbuds with Wi-Fi, delivering hi-res audio up to 4.2Mbps
3. Honor Earbuds Open impress – and not just because of the super-slim case
Honor’s inaugural open earbuds are a huge hit – and I know because I tried them.
Alongside noise cancellation and AI translation (unusual features for open earbuds) Honor Earbuds Open’s “industry-first virtual bass algorithm” is a winner, but that’s not even the innovation I want to talk about…
The Honor Earbuds Open have a delightfully svelte case – in fact, I’ve never seen one this small and pocketable. It’s basically half the depth of the new Powerbeats Pro 2 (see below).
Inside this super-slimline case, you’ll find a 16mm toroidal multi-magnetic circuit unit within each beautifully formed 7.9g earbud, which also sports three microphones and a bone conduction mic.
Bluetooth 5.2 runs the show, an IP54 rating means there’s a degree of dust and water ingress protection and the battery life is a claimed six hours from the buds or up to 22 hours from the case – which is OK, but remember that Beats’ Powerbeats Pro 2 can go for 10 hours alone.
A full review is coming soon, friends, but for now read my in-depth first impressions feature: I tried Honor’s new Earbuds Open and for me, they jumped straight to the top of the pile.
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becky.scarrott@futurenet.com (Becky Scarrott)
