Bottom line: At $99, the Ear (1) earbuds seem like they are priced to sell. There are cheaper options on the market, sure, but it could be hit or miss in terms of overall quality and feature sets in that range. There's still much that remains a mystery about Nothing's earbuds, but we do know that they will offer active noise cancelling.
Nothing, the hardware startup created by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, has revealed that its first consumer product will launch on July 27.
In a recent interview with TechCrunch, Pei said the upcoming Ear (1) earbuds will be similar feature-wise to Apple's AirPods Pro, but at a much lower price point of just $99. They were supposed to launch in June but the company elected to hold off due to unexpected design challenges.
As it turns out, when manufacturing a product featuring a semi-transparent design, it is "really, really hard to make it high quality." Pei noted that you have to ensure that everything inside looks just as good as it does on the outside.
Things like selecting the right magnets, which usually are designed to go inside a product and not be seen by the consumer, are vitally important, as is figuring out the right type of glue to keep the whole thing together. If you select the wrong glue, it could ruin the overall aesthetic.
For roughly the same amount of money, you can pick up a set of Google's Pixel Buds A-Series or Samsung's Galaxy Buds if you need something ASAP.