Huawei FreeBuds 6 launch with same unusual design but boast longer battery life

Huawei has announced the FreeBuds 6 as its latest pair of truly wireless earbuds. The new pair of earbuds has the same unique open-fit design as the FreeBuds 5 but come with some notable upgrades.

Available in Black, White, and Purple, the FreeBuds 6 is lighter as each earbud weighs 4.9 grams compared to the FreeBuds 5's 5.4 grams per earbud. The charging case is also lighter at 40.3 grams whereas that of the FreeBuds 5 weighs 45 grams.

The earbuds are still rated IP54 for dust and water resistance and the FreeBuds 6 still uses a dual-magnetic driver unit, but Huawei has upgraded the frequency range from 16Hz-40KHz on the FreeBuds 5 to 14Hz-48KHz on the FreeBuds 6.

The lighter design of the earbuds is due to them having a smaller battery capacity. Instead of a 42mAh battery per earbud, each one now has 39.5mAh but that hasn't affected battery life. As a matter of fact, battery life is even better now.

Huawei says the FreeBuds 6 will provide up to 6 hours of playback with ANC off and 4.5 hours with ANC on, 1 hour longer than the FreeBuds 5 (currently available on Amazon.de for €129.99). The total listening time with the case is 36 hours with ANC deactivated and 27 hours with ANC turned on, up from the FreeBuds 5's 30 hours and 20 hours respectively. The FreeBuds 6' case has a 510mAh battery capacity and supports both wired and wireless charging. There's also support for fast charging as a 5-minute charge will provide up to 2.5 hours of playback.

The FreeBuds 6 has Bluetooth 5.2 and supports A2DP, HFP 1.7, and AVRCP 1.6. It also supports LDAC, AAC, and SBC codecs. There are three microphones on each earbud and Huawei says they have Hi-Res Audio Wireless Certification. The FreeBuds 6 are also compatible with iOS and Android devices.

The Huawei FreeBuds 6 has a price tag of €159 and will be available to buy from Huawei's online store.