Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Huawei joins the open-ear trend with its FreeClip wireless earbuds

By Simon Cohen December 12, 2023

Woman wearing Huawei FreeClip. — Huawei

As folks try to better merge their digital and real-world lives, open-ear earbuds are becoming an increasingly popular choice. But most of these products use a similar design: an earhook that positions the speaker over your ear, with a battery portion typically behind your ear.

The Huawei FreeClip take a different approach with a horseshoe shape that wraps around the middle of your ear. The jewelry-like FreeClip come in purple or black and will be available in the U.K. and Europe toward the end of December for 199 euros (about $214). There’s no word yet on U.S. availability.

Huawei FreeClip in black. — Huawei

The clip design is meant to be more comfortable for longer use, and unlike the earhook shape, it won’t interfere with glasses. Huawei says the rear portion (the “Comfort Bean”) and the speaker housing (the “Acoustic Ball”) are both ergonomically shaped and connected by nine-wire strand known as the C-bridge.

Huawei FreeClip in purple. — Huawei

The earbuds are also reversible — onboard sensors determine which bud is in which ear, which eliminates the right/left fit of most wireless earbuds. As with other open-ear earbuds, the FreeClip don’t sit up against your ear canal’s opening, so you can still hear the outside world as well as your music, phone calls, or podcasts.

Typically, this results in lowered audio quality and potential sound leaks, but Huawei says it has developed two ways to combat theses problems: a high-sensitivity, dual magnetic circuit moving coil unit, which improves power delivery to the speakers, and a reverse sound waves system, which apparently performs a type of noise cancellation so that any escaping sound is reduced.

Huawei says the FreeClip are rated IP54 for water and dust protection, which should give them the ability to withstand sweat and water spray as long as you clean them after each use. Battery life is rated at eight hours of continuous use, which can be extended to 36 hours via the charging case.

Editor’s note: an earlier version of this article said that the C-bridge has an adaptive sensor that learns and adjusts the clamping force of the clasp mechanism, reducing the strain on your ear cartilage. This incorrect information was provided by Huawei and later corrected.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Contributing Editor, A/V

Simon Cohen covers a variety of consumer technologies, but has a special interest in audio and video products, like spatial…

Audio / Video

Astell&Kern refreshes its UW100 wireless earbuds

Astell&Kern UW100 MK II wireless earbuds held in hand.

We're guessing Astell&Kern (A&K) must have been pretty happy with how its first wireless earbuds -- the A&K UW100 -- worked out because the company has just announced a second generation and you'll need to look very closely to find the changes. The Astell&Kern UW100 MK II will be available in September for the same $299 price as the original.

On the outside, the MK II look exactly the same as their predecessors. A&K has kept the same two-tone, rounded pentagon shape, which, while a bit on the big side, has still proven to be quite comfortable. Even the internal components are unchanged -- A&K has kept the single full-range Knowles balanced armature (BA) driver, which it powers using a combo of its own amp technology and an Asahi Kasei AKM 32-bit Hi-Fi digital-to-analog converter (DAC). The earbuds make use of Qualcomm's aptX Adaptive Bluetooth codec to deliver up to 24-bit/96kHz hi-res audio when used with a compatible Android smartphone.

Audio / Video

Bose kills off its Sport Open Earbuds as new players enter the category

Bose Sport Open Earbuds

Bose has decided to pull the plug on its Sport Open Earbuds, a set of wireless earbuds that sit on your ear instead of inside it, according to a report from The Verge and confirmed by Bose. The move comes less than two years after the product's debut. The remainder of Bose's Sport Open Earbuds is now discounted to $119 (down from its regular $199 price) until all of the inventory has been sold.

The Sport Open Earbuds were the first to try something entirely new for the wireless earbuds market. Instead of placing an earbud inside your ear, or pressed up against your ear canal, they perch on top of your ears, with a portion of the C-shaped device wrapped around the back of your ears. The design has one major strength: it lets you hear the outside world as clearly as you do when not wearing any earbuds at all.

Audio / Video

Nothing teases its next wireless earbuds with photos of a lipstick-like case

Nothing Ear Stick teaser.

Nothing has started teasing its next product – a pair of wireless earbuds that will come equipped with a cylindrical case. Known as the Ear Stick, they will be vastly different from the Ear (1), contrary to earlier rumors that said Nothing will simply be repackaging the first pair of earbuds in a new case. We can expect the new earbuds to launch later this year.

Lewis Hopkins, Nothing’s U.S. public relations manager, told The Verge that the Nothing Ear Stick "is an entirely new product. New charging case and new bud." Earlier rumors have suggested that the company's next product will share a lot of design elements with its first product. However, the Ear Stick is said to come without silicone eartips, like Apple's non-Pro versions of the AirPods.