Huawei's FreeBuds Neo have sawed-off stems, ANC, and up to 40 hours of battery life

Huawei has announced the FreeBuds Neo as the latest addition to its line of earbuds. The TWS earbuds have a design that look like AirPods with sawed-off stems, which Huawei has tagged “mini stem”, and says it helps with the earbuds' ultra-lightweight design.

Each earbud weighs 4.8 grams, which is lighter than the 5.55 grams of the AirPods Pro 3, and thus should make them comfortable to wear for long stretches. Huawei says the earbuds also have a pressure-relieving design that ensures pressure is evenly distributed. It also claims that they have a secure fit, making them suitable for high-movement exercises.

The FreeBuds Neo have adaptive noise cancellation, thanks to a third-gen audio chip which works in tandem with advanced adaptive algorithms. The c-shaped tube and air vent in each earbud helps to reduce wind noise and ambient sounds in noisy environments; and with the three microphones per earbud, which includes a bone conduction microphone, users should experience stable and clear calls even in noisy and windy environments.

The Bluetooth 6.0 earbuds feature a new Turbo driver unit with a 10Hz to 48kHz frequency range. They also have support for LDAC HD audio (990kbps), and when used with a Huawei device, they can deliver up to 2.3Mbps Hi-Res wireless audio via the L2HC 4.0 codec.

There's also support for spatial audio with head tracking, and Huawei mentions a game mode that can be turned on using the companion app. When activated, it enhances sounds such as footsteps in FPS games, making it possible to easily locate enemies and react faster.

Despite the shorter stems, the FreeBuds Neo still have touch control with support for taps and swipes. The short stems also affect the design of the charging case, which is now much smaller than that of previous earbuds. Unfortunately, unlike the earbuds which have an IP55 dust and water resistance rating, the case lack an ingress protection.

The Huawei FreeBuds Neo have a battery life of up to 6.5 hours with ANC on, and up to 10 hours with ANC off, while the total battery life with the charging case is up to 40 hours. The case supports USB-C charging, but lacks support for wireless charging.

Available in Stella Silver, Nebula Pink, Starry Black, and Ice White, the Huawei FreeBuds Neo are priced at €129.00, but are available to buy now with a €20 discount on the manufacturer's website. They are also available on Amazon.de for €108.