Huawei has turned it up in the war on noise with its new FreeBuds Pro, the latest edition of its wireless earbuds. The new earbuds were unveiled Thursday in a live stream alongside the company's FreeLace Pro wireless earphones. Both products offer upgrades in terms of sound quality and overall functionality, but how do the FreeBuds Pro compare to Apple's AirPods Pro?

Wireless earphones have always been hit and miss because not only do they need to offer good sound, but a strong connection to the device. As a result, many provide a rather choppy audio experience, especially for people listening to music while walking around with their phones in a pocket. Generally speaking, AirPods have typically offered one of the better wireless listening experiences. However, Huawei is no slouch, either. Its FreeBuds 3 (the Pro's predecessor), provide great sound, good active noise cancellation and a stable connection for music — even when the phone is in the listener's pocket or another room. FreeBuds Pro offer more improvements.

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In its announcement, Huawei explained that the FreeBuds Pro (and FreeLace Pro) are the first "true" wireless stereo earphones to support dynamic active noise cancellation. The earphones can supposedly identify the ambient surrounding noise and the user can easily switch between three noise-cancellation profiles: general, cozy and ultimate. Based on its own lab tests, Huawei said the FreeBuds Pro have a noise-cancellation rating of 40dB, which is an industry-leading number. They can also be set to let in the surrounding sounds, so users don't have to take them off to hear what's going on. There's a voice mode, which still reduces ambient noise and an awareness mode that picks up everything. Meanwhile, AirPods Pro use external and internal microphones to detect the sounds and "anti-noise" to cancel them out again. The active noise cancellation setting also features a transparency mode to let in external sounds.

Design & Other Feature Differences

Huawei's FreeBuds Pro

From a design perspective, the two pairs of earbuds look quite similar. They both have silicone tips that fit over the bulbous speaker, with a straight piece that sits against the ear — though that part on the FreeBuds Pro is thicker. They are also smaller in overall size than AirPods Pro. What's interesting is that the new set of buds look different to the previous FreeBuds 3. Instead, the FreeBuds 3 don't have silicone tips and the shape of the earpiece is more like a rounded triangle. Whether this is an aesthetic or practical change, Huawei appears to be following Apple's example here.

AirPods Pro use the high-excursion Apple driver and high-dynamic-range amplifier while Huawei's FreeBuds Pro rely on an 11mm dynamic driver. The AirPods Pro have dual beam-forming microphones, an inward-facing microphone, dual optical sensors, a force sensor and accelerometers to detect motion and speech. In contrast, FreeBuds Pro feature a sensor that uses bone vibrations to help better pick up the sound of the user's voice and make clearer phone calls. It is also able to connect to two smart devices at the same time. The AirPods Pro can do something similar, but only with Apple devices.

With both sets, battery life varies with use. With active noise cancellation and transparency mode turned on, AirPods Pro can last about four-and-a-half hours, whereas FreeBuds Pro, with everything turned on, have a four-hour battery life. This is likely due to the abundance of features Huawei has included. With everything disabled, FreeBuds Pro are rated to last up to seven hours while AirPods Pro only last for five. On paper, FreeBuds Pro appear to be the better option although pricing may prove to be an additional factor. As of right now, North American pricing hasn't been confirmed, but Huawei's earbuds are set to become available in October in Europe, priced at €199, roughly $235 or C$310.15. For reference, Apple's AirPods Pro sell for $249 and C$329.00 in the U.S. and Canada, respectively.

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Source: Huawei