Motorola is bringing the 'normal' Moto Buds 2 with ANC to the US at an excellent price
Priced at $99.99, the noise-cancelling Moto Buds 2 might be a smarter buy than the existing $149.99 Moto Buds 2 Plus.
Battery life and affordability are the key selling points of the non-Plus Moto Buds 2. | Image by Motorola
Unless you're the most devoted Motorola fan in the world, you probably don't remember that the company unveiled not one but two different AirPods alternatives at the 2026 Mobile World Congress back in March.
Of those two, you might already be aware that the more advanced and costlier model was released in the US near the end of April at a recommended price of $149.99. Well, now it's time to welcome the non-Plus Moto Buds 2 stateside and carefully consider if there are any better wireless earbuds available today at or around $99.99.
Wait, how affordable are the Moto Buds 2?
Believe it or not, they're cheaper than Apple's non-noise-cancelling AirPods 4. And yes, they do come with active noise cancellation, as well as excellent sound (at least on paper), stellar battery life, and a reasonably stylish design that also happens to handle water and dust respectably well.
The Moto Buds 2 are pretty fashionable for such affordable earbuds. | Image by Motorola
At $99.99, the "regular" Moto Buds 2 are unsurprisingly more affordable than their Plus-branded sibling, but also the likes of Samsung's Galaxy Buds 3 FE or Google's Pixel Buds 2a. At one of their most recent discounts, the OnePlus Buds 4 are definitely a direct (and pretty great) alternative to these bad boys, but knowing Motorola, I think you can expect that $99.99 list price to go down even further before long.
Perhaps even better, recent history suggests the Moto Buds 2 could be offered for free alongside various budget-friendly handsets... possibly including the all-new Motorola Edge (2026). Of course, that's merely an assumption on my part, so for the time being, let's go back to focusing on what makes this $99.99 value proposition so great.
These are some pretty remarkable specs
- Dynamic Active Noise Cancellation (up to 55 dB);
- 11mm Dynamic Drivers and 6mm Micro Planar Magnetic Drivers for premium sound;
- Spatial Audio;
- Smart Transparency Mode;
- Six microphones with Environmental Noise Cancellation;
- Low-Latency High-Definition Audio Codec (LHDC) support;
- Bluetooth 6.0;
- Dual Connection;
- IP54 water and dust resistance;
- IPX2 water-repellent case;
- Up to 11 hours of uninterrupted music playback and up to 48 hours of battery life with charging case;
- Rapid charging;
- Pantone Carbon color.
Could Motorola become the best wireless earbuds vendor around?
July 2 is the big day
For some reason, you still have an entire month left until the Moto Buds 2 will actually go on sale through Motorola's official US website before "subsequently" expanding to other "select" distributors and retailers across the nation.
Another unfortunate detail is that only the Pantone Carbon model will come to the US, with wireless earbuds buyers in other markets being able to get the non-Plus Moto Buds 2 in flashier Pantone Violet Ice and Pantone Grey Mist colorways as well.
Pantone Carbon is the only color option headed to the US. | Image by Motorola
Still, it's hard not to get excited and remain patient until July 2 when the pricier Moto Buds 2 Plus actually offer worse water resistance and battery life compared to the "standard" variant.
Granted, the design is slightly less sophisticated and the audio performance presumably a little humbler on the Moto Buds 2, but all in all, the bang for your buck sounds pretty much unrivaled, especially when you consider Motorola's bold call clarity and (with the risk of repeating myself) battery endurance promises.
11 hours of continuous playback is more than what many of the best wireless earbuds out there can offer, from Samsung's Galaxy Buds 4 Pro to Apple's AirPods Pro 3 and Google's Pixel Buds Pro 2.
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