Sony’s Upcoming WH-1000XM5 Headphones Leak Alongside LinkBuds S
The WH-1000XM5 aren’t as big of a move in a different design direction as Bose’s 700-series was compared to the QuietComfort, but they’re still different enough to make it obvious that we’re looking at a new generation of product here. Sony has slimmed down the headband, but at the same time increased the area of the headband that’s covered by soft materials, even though it might not actually touch your head. The earcups have a new design, but it looks like the touch control remains, since the only physical controls that are noticeable in the pictures consist of a power/Bluetooth slider and an NC/AMB button for switching between noise cancelling and ambient mode, as well as presumably turning off noise cancelling.
The leaks don’t provide too much in terms of spec, but the battery life with ANC on is said to have increased by 10 hours, for a total of 40 hours. The WH-1000XM5 is said to take three and a half hours to charge, which is thirty minutes longer than its predecessor, but this seems like a fair tradeoff for an extra 10 hours battery life. Charing is via USB-C and Sony has retained the 3.5 mm jack. Finally Bluetooth 5.2 is said to be supported, but it’s unclear if Bluetooth LE Audio will be supported.
As for the LinkBuds S – also known as the WF-LSN900, not much is known with regards to the technical specs, but they’re said to feature some kind of AI feature that can change from ambient sound mode to ANC mode, as well as enable automatic playback. There’s also a sensor that detects when the earbuds are in your ear or not. A charging case is unsurprisingly also part of the package here. Both products are expected to be launching sometime in the near future.