ZAGG’s Flex Arc headset brings wireless headphones and speakers together on your neck

By Mike Epstein Published January 5, 2016

Tech accessory manufacturer ZAGG revealed a wireless version of its Flex Arc headphones at CES Wednesday. The Flex Arc combines Bluetooth wireless headphones and wireless external speakers into a single, wearable package.

Similar to many current wireless earbud sets, the Flex Arc stores the Bluetooth receiver in a collar-style frame that wraps around the back of the user’s neck. Unlike most manufacturers, which try do everything they can to minimize the size and weight of what they see as a necessary evil, Zagg puts the Flex Arc collar to good use by adding external speakers on either side of the frame. If sharing your music with others isn’t your thing, a built-in microphone allows the speakers to function as a hands-free headset for taking calls from a paired smartphone.

zagg-flex_arc_earbuds — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Aesthetically, the Flex Arc also adds a novel design tweak to the traditional Bluetooth earbud headset; the cords connecting the earpieces to the collar can retract into a housing on both ends of the collar, minimizing clutter when stored and removing dangling earpieces from the sides when the Flex Arc is in speaker mode. As with many Bluetooth headsets, the frame also features basic control buttons for changing song volume or taking a call on either side of the neck.

According to ZAGG, the Flex Arc lasts for up to eight hours of “music and travel time,” but did not specify how using key features, such as the speakers and microphone, might impact battery life.

The headset intends to come in three color combinations, black with gold buttons, black with gunmetal gray buttons, and gunmetal gray with gold buttons.

As one might expect, the wireless version of the Flex Arc headphones is quite costly compared to past models. The ZAGG Flex Arc Bluetooth headset will cost $99.99.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Michael is a New York-based tech and culture reporter, and a graduate of Northwestwern University’s Medill School of…

Cars

Jaguar Land Rover, Nissan hit the brake on shipments to U.S. over tariffs

Range Rover Sport P400e

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has announced it will pause shipments of its UK-made cars to the United States this month, while it figures out how to respond to President Donald Trump's 25% tariff on imported cars.

"As we work to address the new trading terms with our business partners, we are taking some short-term actions, including a shipment pause in April, as we develop our mid- to longer-term plans," JLR said in a statement sent to various media.

Computing

DeepSeek readies the next AI disruption with self-improving models

DeepSeek AI chatbot running on an iPhone.

Barely a few months ago, Wall Street’s big bet on generative AI had a moment of reckoning when DeepSeek arrived on the scene. Despite its heavily censored nature, the open source DeepSeek proved that a frontier reasoning AI model doesn’t necessarily require billions of dollars and can be pulled off on modest resources.

It quickly found commercial adoption by giants such as Huawei, Oppo, and Vivo, while the likes of Microsoft, Alibaba, and Tencent quickly gave it a spot on their platforms. Now, the buzzy Chinese company’s next target is self-improving AI models that use a looping judge-reward approach to improve themselves.

Cars

Toyota shifts gears: 15 New EVs and a million cars by 2027

Front three quarter view of the 2023 Toyota bZ4X.

After years of cautiously navigating the electric vehicle (EV) market, Toyota is finally ramping up its commitment to fully electric vehicles.
The Japanese automaker, which has long relied on hybrids, is now planning to develop about 15 fully electric models by 2027, up from five currently. These models will include vehicles under the Toyota and Lexus brands, with production expected to reach 1 million units annually by that year, according to a report from Nikkei.
This strategy marks a significant shift for Toyota, which has thus far remained conservative in its approach to electric cars. The company sold just 140,000 EVs globally in 2024—representing less than 2% of its total global sales. Despite this, Toyota is aiming for a much larger presence in the EV market, targeting approximately 35% of its global production to be electric by the end of the decade.
The Nikkei report suggests the company plans to diversify its production footprint beyond Japan and China and expanding into the U.S., Thailand, and Argentina. This would help mitigate the impact of President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on all car imports, as well as reduce delivery times. Toyota is also building a battery plant in North Carolina.
For now, Toyota has only two fully electric vehicles on the U.S. market: The bZ4X and the Lexus RZ models. The Japanese automaker is expected to introduce new models like the bZ5X and a potential electric version of the popular Tacoma pickup.
Separately, Toyota and Honda, along with South Korea’s Hyundai, all announced on April 4 that they would not be raising prices, at least over the next couple of months, following the imposition of U.S. tariffs. According to a separate Nikkei report, Toyota’s North American division has told its suppliers that it will absorb the extra costs of parts imported from Mexico and Canada. Another 25% for automotive parts imported to the U.S. is slated to come into effect on May 3.