OnePlus Buds will crush the AirPods in charging speed

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OnePlus Buds have the charging tech to match their long battery life

OnePlus Buds
(Image credit: OnePlus)

The OnePlus Buds will trounce the AirPods when it comes to charging speed, with a mere 10 minutes of charging time resulting in 10 hours of power. 

In an interview with TechRadar, Jay Liu, the OnePlus Buds project manager, explained that it's thanks to the use of OnePlus' Warp Charge tech that you'll get very fast charging for the company's first truly wireless headphones. Comparatively, with the AirPods can get only 3 hours of charge from 15 minutes of charging time. 

Encouragingly, you don't need a particular charger, like OnePlus' Warp Charge 30, to do this. As long as your charger is capable of 10W or greater, it will power up the 430 mAh battery within the Buds' case at its maximum speed.

There isn't a wireless charging option on the Buds, however. Liu explains "that would add to the cost of the earbuds", which is something OnePlus seems keen to keep down. 

TechRadar suggested that the price of the Buds will be under $99/£99, which compared to the basic $160 price for the AirPods, $180 for the Pixel Buds 2 or $150 Galaxy Buds Plus, looks very attractive for people looking to invest in true wireless audio on a budget.

OnePlus previously announced on its forums that the Buds will have a total playback time of 30 hours, and 7 hours if you're not using the charging case. That's 6 hours and 2 hours more respectively than what the AirPods can manage, and we've complimented Apple's earbuds in the past for having good battery life. If OnePlus' claims about the Buds are correct, then it's very unlikely you'll be caught out by a flat battery.

The OnePlus Buds will appear along with the Nord mid-range smartphone at an event on July 21. The OnePlus Nord is exciting for similar reasons to the buds, offering what's shaping up to be impressive hardware for a sub-$500 price. We can expect the Nord to offer a 6.4-inch AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate, a large 4,115 mAh battery, a 5G-compatible Snapdragon 765G chipset, and up to 12GB RAM and 256GB storage.

If that's not enough for you, then perhaps the four rear cameras, featuring 48MP main,  8MP ultrawide, 5MP macro, and 2MP portrait sensors, combined with the two selfie cameras, a 32MP main camera and an 8MP ultrawide camera, will convince you that this is a phone worth your attention.

Richard Priday
Richard Priday
Assistant Phones Editor

Richard is based in London, covering news, reviews and how-tos for phones, tablets, gaming, and whatever else people need advice on. Following on from his MA in Magazine Journalism at the University of Sheffield, he's also written for WIRED U.K., The Register and Creative Bloq. When not at work, he's likely thinking about how to brew the perfect cup of specialty coffee.