Well, that was an interesting product announcement!
Today, Nothing announced the Ear (2), the company’s first second-generation product and its successor to the Ear (1) earbuds. To reveal the product, the company had its CEO, Carl Pei, imitate popular technology YouTubers like Marques Brownlee (MKBHD), Justine Ezarik, (Justine), and more. It was a silly but fun tactic and was, at least at first glance, the most exciting part of the announcement.
Carl Pei trying to be a YouTuber aside, what is actually new with the Ear (2)? If you put the second generation next to the first, you probably couldn’t even tell a difference. However, underneath, the second-generation earbuds have received a number of quality-of-life improvements. If you want to dive deep, check out our in-depth Nothing Ear (2) review.
One of the upgrades for the Ear (2) is Bluetooth 5.3, which enables multi-device connectivity. This means that you’ll be able to connect to two devices at the same time, such as your iPhone and Mac (or Phone (1) and Mac). They also add a new Ear Fit test to the app, which helps owners figure out the best ear tip size — similar to the ear tip test feature that Apple’s AirPods have. The battery life is also roughly the same.
The biggest improvements, outside of those two features, are the audio and noise-cancellation quality. Early reviews say that the sound quality is much better and that the noise-cancellation performance has been greatly improved in noisy environments. That’ll set the earbuds up as an even better competitor to Apple’s AirPods Pro which, while being the most popular in the premium earbud market, cost $100 more than the Nothing Ear (2).
The Ear (2) will officially launch on March 28th but customers can place an order starting today. They cost $149, the same as the recently adjusted price of the Ear (1). If you want to check out the announcement in full, you can watch it on YouTube below:
