Huawei FreeBuds Neo go after AirPods and Galaxy Buds owners with one trick
A brand new earbuds line arrives September 23.
Huawei's key visual for the FreeBuds Neo, showing the Mini shuttle case and the Light Mini Stem design. | Image by Huawei
Huawei FreeBuds Neo are official today, and rather than a follow-up to the FreeBuds 6 we reviewed last year, this is a whole new series built around moving between devices. Huawei is aiming it at anyone juggling an iPhone, a Galaxy S26 Ultra and a Windows laptop, and at £119.99 it goes up against most of the best wireless earbuds we recommend.
Huawei announced the FreeBuds Neo globally today, and the company is treating the series as its own line rather than a step up or down from the existing FreeBuds and FreeBuds Pro models. The details come from Huawei's own announcement, so the features are confirmed, though the performance numbers are lab figures the company measured itself.
The UK gets them on September 23 for £119.99 through the Huawei Store, Amazon, Argos, Very and selected retail partners, with £20 off for anyone buying before October 26.
There is no US pricing or date anywhere in the announcement, which is the same pattern we saw at the last global FreeBuds launch. Previous pairs have turned up on Amazon here anyway, so I would not write these off.
For most of us the interesting part here is that these are meant to work properly across Android, iOS and Windows at once, with dual-device switching that crosses systems, rather than any single noise cancellation number. That tends to be the weakest spot for earbuds tied to one ecosystem, so if your laptop and your phone do not share a logo, this matters more than a decibel figure.
Of course, there is a catch, because the best of it still needs Huawei hardware. The 2.3 Mbps lossless connection only happens with Huawei phones, and everything else tops out at 990 kbps on devices that support LDAC without capping the bitrate.
So where does that sit against what we have already tested? In our FreeBuds Pro 4 review we called Huawei's flagship pair a worthy alternative to Apple's AirPods Pro 2, though we did note the noise cancellation did not quite match them.
Samsung's side is not settled either. When we put the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro up against Sony's WF-1000XM6 we praised Samsung's sound but still reached for the Sonys more often, which says plenty about how crowded this price range has become.
Here is everything Huawei confirmed:
I noticed while reading through the announcement that Huawei spent more words on device switching than on sound, and that battery life never comes up at all, which is a strange thing to leave out of an earbuds launch. Hopefully that shows up closer to release, because it tends to be the first question anyone asks.
Personally, as a US resident I cannot simply walk into a store and pick these up, for obvious reasons. So it turns into weighing the benefits against the hassle of importing a pair, and I am not sure a set of earbuds with no local support behind them clears that bar for me yet.
Huawei made the FreeBuds Neo a separate line, not a sequel
Huawei announced the FreeBuds Neo globally today, and the company is treating the series as its own line rather than a step up or down from the existing FreeBuds and FreeBuds Pro models. The details come from Huawei's own announcement, so the features are confirmed, though the performance numbers are lab figures the company measured itself.
The UK gets them on September 23 for £119.99 through the Huawei Store, Amazon, Argos, Very and selected retail partners, with £20 off for anyone buying before October 26.
The FreeBuds Neo in Stellar Silver, with the Mini shuttle case and the new Light Mini Stem. | Images by Huawei
There is no US pricing or date anywhere in the announcement, which is the same pattern we saw at the last global FreeBuds launch. Previous pairs have turned up on Amazon here anyway, so I would not write these off.
Your phone and your laptop run different systems. How do you handle earbuds?
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What cross-system switching changes for AirPods and Galaxy Buds owners
For most of us the interesting part here is that these are meant to work properly across Android, iOS and Windows at once, with dual-device switching that crosses systems, rather than any single noise cancellation number. That tends to be the weakest spot for earbuds tied to one ecosystem, so if your laptop and your phone do not share a logo, this matters more than a decibel figure.
So where does that sit against what we have already tested? In our FreeBuds Pro 4 review we called Huawei's flagship pair a worthy alternative to Apple's AirPods Pro 2, though we did note the noise cancellation did not quite match them.
Samsung's side is not settled either. When we put the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro up against Sony's WF-1000XM6 we praised Samsung's sound but still reached for the Sonys more often, which says plenty about how crowded this price range has become.
More on Huawei's earbuds and how they stack up:
FreeBuds Neo specs and who Huawei is going after
Here is everything Huawei confirmed:
- Dual-channel noise cancellation rated up to 30 dB, from Huawei's own IEC 60268-24 lab testing
- Third-gen audio chip with adaptive tuning that reacts in milliseconds
- A new Turbo driver covering 10 Hz to 48 kHz
- Up to 2.3 Mbps lossless on Huawei phones, 990 kbps on other LDAC devices
- Spatial audio with head tracking through the Huawei Audio Connect app
- About 4.8 grams per bud with medium tips, in a curved Mini shuttle case
- Four colors: Stellar Silver, Nebula Pink, Ice White and Starry Black
- Android, iOS and Windows support, with cross-system dual-device switching
- Watch control for pairing, noise modes and battery, arriving later through a software update
All four FreeBuds Neo colors, from left, Stellar Silver, Nebula Pink, Ice White and Starry Black. | Images by Huawei
The missing battery number is the part that nags me
I noticed while reading through the announcement that Huawei spent more words on device switching than on sound, and that battery life never comes up at all, which is a strange thing to leave out of an earbuds launch. Hopefully that shows up closer to release, because it tends to be the first question anyone asks.
Personally, as a US resident I cannot simply walk into a store and pick these up, for obvious reasons. So it turns into weighing the benefits against the hassle of importing a pair, and I am not sure a set of earbuds with no local support behind them clears that bar for me yet.
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