Skip to main content

Shiny Xiaomi Buds 4 Pro come inside their own Space Capsule

We’re used to seeing earbud cases with flip tops, and we’ve even seen ones that come inside a cylinder, but the Xiaomi Buds 4 Pro have a slightly different take. They come inside a cool, unusually styled case Xiaomi calls the Space Capsule, where the top opens to reveal the earbuds ready for you to pluck out frontwards. It’s a subtly different approach that’s eye-catching and different. Go beyond the initial experience, and what do you get with Xiaomi’s latest earbuds? We’ve got all the details.

The open Xiaomi Buds 4 Pro case, showing the earbud placement.
Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

Inside the shiny case — which comes in either the silvery color in our photos or a bling-tastic shiny gold — the earbuds look superb with their swooping lines and polished casing that glints in the light. Each one is magnetically held in place and is easily removed for use. However, while the case itself looks brilliant, it can be a pain to open due to its smooth surface and lack of anywhere to hook a fingernail in.

Xiaomi supplies three different-sized earbuds, and the accompanying Xiaomi Earbuds app has a fitment-monitoring function to make sure you’re using the ones for the best performance for you. The company has not revealed the specification of the drivers, but does say the earbuds support the Hi-Res LDAC codec, along with SBC and AAC codecs. Xiaomi has also included its own take on Spatial Audio, called Dimensional Audio, which offers head-tracking for a more immersive audio experience.

The Xiaomi Buds 4 Pro earbuds on a desk.
Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

The stems contain touch controls and inputs are confirmed with haptic feedback — and this is where the Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) is controlled. Xiaomi states the earbuds block sound up to 48 decibels, with six different levels available to really fine-tune the performance. There are also three levels of transparency for use during calls and in situations where you want to be aware of your surroundings. Bluetooth Multipoint is also available, so you can seamlessly switch between two paired devices.

Finally, there’s the battery life. The Xiaomi Buds 4 Pro should provide around nine hours of use on a single charge, and 38 hours in total using the battery inside the case. These are claimed figures, and Xiaomi doesn’t state if this is with ANC on or off. The case is recharged using a USB Type-C cable, or by placing it on a wireless charging pad.

The Xiaomi Buds 4 Pro cost 239 British pounds, which is about $286, and the earbuds will be available in the U.K. from February 27 through Xiaomi’s own online store. The Buds 4 Pro will not be released in the U.S.. Competition in the true wireless earbud space is tough, with a wide variety of excellent choices available at almost all price points, so Xiaomi will likely have to really impress with the cost of the Buds 4 Pro to win favor with those who want more than a clever, shiny case.

Editors' Recommendations

The Google Pixel Fold may not be as expensive as you thought
Alleged renders of the Google Pixel Fold in black.

Google’s long-in-development foldable phone — the Pixel Fold — is reportedly eyeing a late June launch. A recent leak predicted that the Pixel Fold will hit the European shelves priced at 1,700 Euros, which equates to roughly $1,800 based on current conversion rates. That’s not easy to digest, especially for a first-gen foldable phone and considering Google’s own shaky history with its Pixel hardware and software.
But it appears that the Pixel Fold’s price won’t be inexplicably exorbitant at all. Leaker Yogesh Bear shared on Twitter that the foldable phone could actually cost anywhere between $1,300 and $1,500. Assuming that turns out to be true, the Pixel Fold could undercut the Samsung Galaxy Fold 4 and its successor by a healthy $500.

In fact, such an asking price would put the Pixel Fold in roughly the same ballpark as the higher storage configurations of phones like the Galaxy S23 Ultra and Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro Max. Of course, Google won’t be able to match the asking price of foldables from Chinese brands, but it would at least look competitive in the Western markets.
Now, a price of around $1,300-1,500 makes a lot of sense. First, the biggest deterrent for foldable phones is their high asking price. There’s a reason Samsung managed to sell bucketloads of its flip-style foldable phones because they cost nearly half vis-a-vis the phone-tablet hybrids in the Galaxy Z Fold series.

Read more
6 years later, the iPhone X still does one thing better than the iPhone 14 Pro
iPhone X.

I’ve been an iPhone user since the very beginning, starting with the original iPhone. You know, the one with the 3.5-inch display that was perfect at the time, making it super easy to use a phone with one hand? As the years go by, the iPhone — and every other smartphone out there — just get bigger and bigger. We now have phones that with almost 7-inch displays, and honestly, I don’t understand how anyone can comfortably use these giant phones — especially if you have smaller hands!

With the iPhone, we’ve gone from 3.5-inch to 4-inches, then 4.7-inches to 5.8-inches, and now the standard 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch of the iPhone 14/iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Plus/iPhone 14 Pro Max, respectively. I personally use an iPhone 14 Pro as my primary device, and while I have gotten used to the 6.1-inch size over the past few years, I still think it’s too big. In fact, the last perfect size iPhone was the iPhone XS with the 5.8-inch display ... and I really wish Apple would bring it back.
5.8 inches was a perfect middle ground

Read more
Google Pixel 8: all the latest rumors and what we want to see
Google Pixel 8 leaked render.

The Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro are on their way. Google's fallen in a pretty reliable release pattern for Pixel phones, meaning we can safely expect a new lineup of flagship Pixels each year. In 2023, that means the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro.

The Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro are two excellent devices -- possibly two of the best smartphones Google has ever made. But while they have some serious strengths, a number of problems and missed opportunities drag both phones down. This wouldn't be a problem if the competition was standing still, but it's not. The Apple iPhone 14 Pro refreshed the iPhone design for the first time in years, and the recently released Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is quite possibly one of the best smartphones ever created. So what's a humble Pixel to do?

Read more