Sony will be releasing updated WF-1000XM3 Wireless Ear Buds
Sony released their Airpod competitor in the fall of 2017, the earbuds were highly rated in their sound and impressive noise cancellation, the battery life left much to be desired. So will this new model improve the battery life?
Previously the ID/FCC info tag was located on the underside of the case, this time, it looks like Sony has relocated it to the inside of the case. In Pocketlint’s review, the lid broke off the case on the first day, a strange and hopefully isolated incident. I would imagine something like opening and closing the case would be tested in the lab to make sure it was durable but perhaps Sony screwed up the design or Pocketlint received a faulty unit. Perhaps the new model will have a slightly redesigned case that would minimize any such problems.
Curious, for any users who own a pair of current model, has anything similar happened to your case with the lid breaking off? Leave a comment with your experiences.
Back to the new model, the FCC documents provide very little information apart from the use of Bluetooth classic and low energy, so v.4.2 at the least, up from the 4.1 on the first gen model. The first gen used Qualcomm’s CSR8675 audio SoC, and this does feature support up to Bluetooth 5.0 but the product brief only states 4.2, so not sure which one is correct. That aside, the new model hopefully will have at least v4.2 and possibly 5.0. The SoC features Qualcomm’s aptX tech and this was missing on the first gen, so perhaps Sony will finally add it to the WF-1000XM3.
Sony WF-1000X exploded view
The main issue from the reviews seems to be battery life, it was rather poor and even below some of the competing products on the market. The above photo shows the current WF-1000X parts and looking at it, the battery seems to be the small silver cylinder. It does not seem that large and there are always limitations to battery size in such small packages. Sony could have made the units larger and increase battery size but also increase weight or made them smaller and lighter but sacrificing battery life. Hopefully Sony will improve the battery life with the new model to something more than the current 3 hours, preferably at least up to 5 hours.
One interesting note, the device on the FCC is identified as the M3, or mark 3, meaning a mark 2 might have existed, destined for IFA 2018 but ultimately cancelled. If it did exist and was cancelled, would be interesting to know the reasons for such a decision. Whatever the reasons Sony had for cancelling the mark 2, hopefully this new mark 3 will retain the great sound quality with NC but improve on the areas lacking like battery life and water and dust protection.
The current model appeared on the FCC in early July and was unveiled at IFA in September, so around 2 months or so, and then went on sale shortly after. If we will have a similar timeline now, then we can be loking at an introduction in May/June with sales shorty after.
If I find or receive any more information I will post it. As always if anyone has any information, please do contact me.
