The Nothing Ear 2 buds could feature a near-identical design as their predecessors.
Nothing’s latest pair of wireless earbuds have leaked just one week ahead of their launch. In a set of images shared by @OnLeaks with The Tech Outlook, we get our first glimpse at what appears to be the Nothing Ear 2 earbuds, which look nearly identical to the Ear 1 buds, complete with a partially transparent stem and wireless charging case.
The only noticeable difference between the design of these new buds and their predecessors is, of course, the “Nothing ear (2)” branding on the stem. However, if you look closely, you can see that Nothing moved the noise-canceling microphone to the top of the stem instead of the very bottom.
As you can see in the below gallery, the Nothing Ear 2s also feature a red and white dot to indicate which one is for your right or left ear as well as the same white tips. The full set of images is available from The Tech Outlook.
According to the specs leaked alongside the images, the Nothing Ear 2 will come with the same 11.6mm drivers as the Nothing 1s, which my colleague Chris Welch said “don’t pull off any huge upsets against more premium competition” but noted that they have some “weaknesses that earbud enthusiasts will pick up on.”
There’s also up to 36 hours of playback time with the charging case or six hours without, up from the Ear 1 buds’ 34 hours with the case and four without. The Nothing Ear 2 buds will also weigh slightly less than the Nothing Ear 1s at 4.5 grams instead of 4.7 and will come with the option to charge via a compatible Qi charger or USB-C.
In an interview with Forbes posted shortly after The Tech Outlook’s report, Nothing founder Carl Pei reveals the Ear 2s will come with LDHC 5.0, or the low latency high-definition audio codec, which should allow for better sound quality over Bluetooth. Pei also notes that the buds will come with an IP54 rating for dust and water resistance, aligning with the information provided by The Tech Outlook.
There’s no word on pricing yet, but given that there are no major changes here, they will hopefully stay in the same $99 ballpark as the Nothing Ear 1 earbuds. Nothing’s set to reveal the Ear 2s at an event on March 22nd.