The newest OnePlus earbuds come with a sub-$50 price, 'pro-level' ANC, and exceptional battery life
The OnePlus Nord Buds 4 Pro look absolutely mind-blowing (at least on paper) for their crazy low price.
The Nord Buds 4 Pro are small, lightweight, relatively stylish, and remarkably powerful. | Image by OnePlus
OnePlus has become a little... erratic with its product launches, planning to unveil a very exciting new compact phone in China next week, as well as two intriguing Android tablets and a Nord-branded mid-range handset at some point in the near future while also taking the wraps off the company's latest ultra-affordable earbuds in India today.
It definitely feels (at least to me) that the Nord Buds 4 Pro could have been saved for an announcement (ideally, for the entire world) alongside either the OnePlus 15T or Nord 6 phone, but... here we are.
How can OnePlus offer all this for so little money?
- Up to 55 dB active noise cancellation;
- 12mm titanium-coated drivers;
- 3D Spatial Audio;
- Game Sound Spatial Audio;
- Six microphones with AI for crystal clear calls;
- Up to 54 hours of battery life;
- Bluetooth 6.0;
- LHDC 5.0;
- Google Fast Pair;
- IP55 water and dust resistance;
- Volume swipe and touch control;
- AI Translation;
- 4.4 grams weight (earbuds);
- 34.2 grams weight (charging case);
- Radiant Gray and Raven Black color options.
I'm honestly struggling to answer that question when I think about the $250 retail price of Apple's AirPods Pro 3 and Samsung's Galaxy Buds 4 Pro, the $180 normally charged by major US retailers for the "regular" Galaxy Buds 4, or the $129 starting price of the non-noise-cancelling AirPods 4 (outside promotions that can occasionally take that down to as little as $89).
OnePlus Nord Buds 4 Pro in Radiant Gray and Raven Black color options. | Images by OnePlus
Now, I'm not saying that the OnePlus Nord Buds 4 Pro are as powerful or as overall sophisticated as the AirPods Pro 3 or Galaxy Buds 4, but if our in-depth Nord Buds 3 Pro review is any indication, the value for money could be truly unrivaled here.
And that's because, believe it or not, the Nord Buds 4 Pro are set to cost a measly 3,999 rupees in India starting Monday, March 23. That's only $43 or so, and perhaps most impressively in today's tech landscape, it's just slightly higher than the Nord Buds 3 Pro's recommended price in the region despite the upgrades and enhancements being many and significant.
What exactly has changed?
For starters, the Nord Buds 4 Pro arguably look prettier than their predecessors, and knowing OnePlus, the design revision will also bring improvements in terms of all-day comfort.
Curiously enough, the battery endurance numbers of the new budget-friendly buds by themselves are not listed anywhere on their official product webpage (or advertised on the company's social media accounts), but the 54-hour rating with the bundled charging case factored in essentially guarantees you won't need to interrupt even your longest music listening sessions very often.
That's up from a 44-hour rating on the Nord Buds 3 Pro, in case you're wondering, and the "pro-level real-time" active noise cancellation is also improved from a maximum of 49 to 55 dB. The number of built-in microphones is remarkably doubled to make the call quality as good as it can possibly be (in the sub-$50 segment), the Bluetooth technology is raised to the latest 6.0 standard, and on top of everything else, Spatial Audio support is incredibly also added in this ultra-affordable equation.
So should you buy the OnePlus Nord Buds 4 Pro?
If you live in India, I see absolutely no reason why you wouldn't do that as early as Monday... unless, of course, you own an iPhone or feel like you simply must own the best of the best wireless earbuds in the world without paying much attention to how much they cost.
What is the most impressive thing about the Nord Buds 4 Pro (on paper)?
If you live elsewhere, you should probably remain patient, as I believe there's a very good chance OnePlus will soon expand these bad boys to many other regions, including the US and key European territories.
Stateside, mind you, the Nord Buds 3 Pro are typically priced at $79.99 but very frequently marked down to as little as $39.99 (including right now), which makes me relatively confident in predicting the Nord Buds 3 Pro will initially cost less than $100 and drop below $50... if you can wait long enough.
Follow us on Google News
Things that are NOT allowed:
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts: