HTC is gearing up to join the insanely competitive wireless earbuds market. The company’s debut wireless hearables, the HTC U Ear have been spotted on FCC, implying that they could be here anytime.
In addition to revealing the name of the wireless earphones, the listing also contains images that give us a good look at them. Design-wise, they bear a lot of resemblance to the Apple AirPods. They have a glossy black finish and come in a cube-shaped box. Although the USB-C charging port can be seen in the images, we don’t know if wireless charging will also be supported. It also looks like they will ship with a USB A-to-C cable.
The true wireless headsets market is currently dominated by Apple. However, just cloning AirPods wouldn’t necessarily work for HTC. Back in 2010, HTC acquired a major stake in Beats Electronics to help with smartphone sales. However, nothing much came out of the deal, and by 2013, the company had sold back its stake.
Later on, Apple bought Beats, and the acquisition totally paid off. In fact, it’s believed that the takeover helped Apple gain an insight into the Bluetooth headphones market trends, which ultimately resulted in the birth of the AirPods and the jack-less iPhone.
The success of AirPods has led rivals to create similar products of their own. Google, Amazon, and Microsoft have all jumped the bandwagon, and OnePlus is also expected to follow suit.
Microsoft, Apple, and Google also use their software to their advantage. For instance, the Surface Earbuds offer Office 365 integration, and the Pixel Buds 2 provide hands-free activation of Google Assistant and live language translation. Amazon’s Echo buds feature always-on Alexa and are priced aggressively.
Thus, unless the HTC U Earbuds offer something that makes them stand out and are priced competitively, they will be just another pair of wireless earbuds.