Sony WF-1000XM5 Design Leaked

This leak might be a bit later than the WF-1000XM4 leak from 2 years ago, but better late than never. The photos are from a certification but I have edited and cleaned them up and removed the certification watermarks in some of them.Let us first look at the earbuds.

We can see the design is much more compact compared to the current WF-1000XM4. The model number and where it is made (China), look to be printed on the section that holds the ear tips, rather than the bottom. This might be because the underside of the earbud is no longer completely flat, most likely to facilitate a better fit in the ear. While we cannot see it in this photo, a proximity sensor will be located on the bottom, more on that later.

On the left side we can see the tactile dot which is usually located on the left unit. Above the tactile dot, there appears to be a hole for a microphone, which microphone is unknown, it is either the feedforward or voice microphone. Unfortunately this is the only view we have, so there might be more details on the other side of the earbuds.

The exterior is shinny black plastic, but this might be due to the fact this is a pre-production model and not the final production part, at least I hope so.

From the FCC filing we know for certain that a touch panel will be present on the exterior/top surface, integrated with the Bluetooth antenna. This exterior surface design might be like in the LinkBuds S, smooth with no seam.

Now turning to the charging case.

The obvious first, the case is not square as some suggested because of the FCC label photo. The FCC label photo is usually a placeholder image as not to reveal the true design, meaning it is rarely indicative of the actual design. Anyways, the major new change is Sony moving from 3 pins to 2 pins for recharging/communication.

The case material also looks to be matte like the current model, but this might be pre-production material again. We do not have any ability to get a good estimate of the size but I am guessing it is smaller than the current WF-1000XM4 case.

Another major change is the recharging ability of the case. We have 5 V = 230mAh, compared to 5 V = 140mAh with the WF-1000XM4. This increase might indicate a faster recharge speed for the earbuds, which would shorter recharge times.

There does not appear to be any LED on the front inside of the case like in the WF-1000XM4, but it looks to be moved to the front. I am guessing this is what the little hole is on the front (see below).

Sticking with the case, we can see that wireless charging will be present, which is good news for users who like using a wireless pad to recharge their case and earbuds. I do wonder if the wireless recharging times have improved over the WF-1000XM4.

The certification also included some teardown photos of the case, mainly the main PCB, no battery though. We can see the wireless charging standard will be Qi again and that the battery will not be soldered to the PCB, but the wireless charging coil will be, just like in the WF-1000XM4.

The main controller is the NXP K32 L2B Microcontroller, the same as in the WF-1000XM4, except the only difference might be the flash memory size. The KL2B6V in the WF-1000XM4 has 64KB flash, where as the new WF-1000XM5 has KL2B7V, which is 128KB flash. What advantages larger flash memory will have is unknown to me.

We can also see the 2 recharging pins on the board.

Finally to the right of the USB type-C port look to be a button, similar to the one found on the LinkBuds S charging case PCB. This button is for pairing, initializing and resetting. see LinkBuds S online guide.

Next up are 2 photos of the inside of the earbuds.

We do not have the battery capacity, but we can see the battery taking up a lot of the interior space. If the battery is a standard 1254 cell, then compared to the WF-1000XM4, the new model is A LOT smaller. Bellow is a photo of the WF-1000XM4 its 1254 battery.

Of course the battery could be larger in size, but we will not know this until the model is released and a teardown is posted. But my gut says the battery will not be larger.

Finally the inner guts of the earbuds, the flex PCB and the System in Package.

There is a lot to unpack here, so I numbered some parts which I could make out. The System in Package is the Bluetooth module. I would imagine the metal cover needs to be removed to see the Bluetooth chip. Ok now to the list:

1. Contacts for the wireless antenna and touch sensor.

2. MEMS microphone (either voice microphone or feedforward NC)

3. Contacts for the battery most likely (update June 11th 2023)

4. Looks like another pair of contacts for a driver unit

5. Proximity sensor

6. MEMS mics (could be only for NC or also voice)

The antenna contacts look to be soldered if we go by the first internal photo, so tearing down the device could be tricky.

The yellow arrows show more chips, which are unknown. They could be a memory chip (side-A), the battery protection chip and an acceleration sensor (Side-B).

While I pointed out 2 pairs of contacts for a driver or drivers (#3 and #4), there might just be one driver and the other set of contacts is for something else (correction, the contacts are most likely for the battery). But the LinkBuds S with their one driver, only have 1 pair of contacts. If this means we will see 2 drivers in the new WF-1000XM5, is unknown, but maybe. (No we will not)

Well that is it for the reveal. I am looking forwards to the new earbuds, and I am sure a lot users will be pleased that the size has been reduced. Hopefully these will not suffer any battery issues, because replacing the batteries here looks more challenging than in the WF-1000XM4.

The place of manufacturing is now China, just like the LinkBuds S for those wondering. Anyways, what are people’s thoughts? Leave them below.