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By Joe Svetlik published 24 August 22

What does Bose have in store for its next QC Earbuds?

Bose has a sequel to its five-star QuietComfort Earbuds waiting in the wings. At least, that's the rumour. This rumour is no idle hearsay, though: a batch of images have leaked that show the next-gen true wireless earbuds from all angles and even modelled in promotional shots. That suggests that not only are they real but they're also coming soon.

So what can we expect from the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II? How much will they cost? And when will they launch? Below, we bring you all the leaks and rumours on the QC Earbuds 2 and do our utmost to fill in the gaps...

At time of writing, there's only been one leak regarding the QuietComfort Earbuds II, but it's a biggie. It comes courtesy of German tech site WinFuture (opens in new tab) and reveals quite a few details.

Why can we trust it? As with any leak, we can't be 100 per cent sure the details are correct. Not until Bose has gone official with the details itself will we know anything for certain. But WinFuture is well respected within the industry and the promotional photos it has published look authentic, which lends the leak credence.

When, then, it says the QuietComfort Earbuds II will launch "in the next few weeks", we have no reason to doubt it. European tech show IFA takes place in Berlin next week, which could be a fitting stage for a launch. Or we could see them debut shortly after the iPhone 14 event in September.

Bose will be hoping to hit that all-important Thanksgiving and Christmas shopping market, so expect an announcement sooner rather than later.

Now the bad news. According to the leak, the QuietComfort Earbuds II will be more expensive than their predecessors, the – you guessed it – QuietComfort Earbuds. They will reportedly carry a price tag of $299 (which translates to around £250 and AU$430), whereas the originals launched at $280 / £249 / AU$399.

With inflation at a 40-year high and a lot of the world in the squeeze of a cost-of-living crisis, maybe a higher price was inevitable. But that price would make them more expensive than many of the best wireless earbuds around, including the Apple AirPods Pro and class-leading Sony WF-1000XM4. Bose might well have a job to convince punters they are worth the extra.

The likely good news that could come from the arrival of the QC Earbuds 2 is the probable discount on the originals, which we applauded for their "energetic, balanced sound and brilliant noise-cancelling". If they drop from their best current price (see below), that can only be considered a win for the consumer. Yes, they are around two years old now, but they are still cutting edge.

If the leaked pictures are to be believed, the QuietComfort Earbuds II have a new look. While similar in style to the originals, they will seemingly protrude less from the wearer's ear. That's a very good thing – especially for people with shallower ears. In our review, we noted that the originals are "pretty stocky in appearance", especially compared to sleeker pairs from the likes of Sony and Sennheiser. The true wireless earbuds market has reached a maturation whereby earpieces are getting smaller and more discreet, to the point that a bulkier bud is much less forgiving than it was two years ago.

The charging case has also had an overhaul. The original's was wide and shallow, but the QC Earbuds II appear to come with a narrower, deeper case. The four LED lights on the front to indicate battery status also seem to have been given the chop.

So what else is new? It looks like the wingtips have been redesigned, and that the earbuds will come in black and white finishes.

The leak is a little quieter on the subject of features, but we have a pretty good idea of what will be on that all-important spec sheet. According to WinFuture, the QuietComfort Earbuds 2 will offer the same six hours of battery life from the buds, though it's not clear how much extra runtime the case will add. The original QuietComfort Earbuds had a total battery life of 18 hours including the case – not bad, though bettered by the AirPods 3, Sony WF-1000XM4 and, actually, plenty of newer arrivals. Let's hope Bose has boosted the battery life to at least 24 hours all up this time around.

Active noise-cancelling (ANC) is a dead cert, given that these will be part of Bose's famous 'QuietComfort' range of ANC headphones. But can they improve on the original Earbuds' noise-cancelling, which is already best-in-class? That offers 11 levels of noise-cancellation (also seen on the Bose 700 over-ear headphones), as well as custom modes depending on what activity you're doing. You can also switch between Quiet Mode, which activates ANC, and Aware Mode, which acts as a transparency mode and allows your surroundings to seep in while you're listening to music. And to excellent effect, at that. Indeed, this will be tricky to improve on. 

We would imagine Bose would take a similar approach to Sony and innovate in this area with its over-ear headphones first, then bring the same features to its wireless earbuds at a later date. But who knows, maybe it will surprise us all and come up with an even more effective way of cancelling outside noise.

The sound quality will also be tricky to top, but we expect more of a hike here than we do in the ANC department. It's something they will need to better the Sony XM4, not least if they are going to cost more. While the original Earbuds are full of power, poise and dynamism, as well as being versatile enough to convey the more subtle elements of a track, the Sonys still have a sonic edge while being cheaper. 

Will Bose finally topple our favourite wireless earbuds for sound quality? We shouldn't have long to wait to find out.

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Joe has been writing about tech for 17 years, first on staff at T3 magazine, then in a freelance capacity for Stuff, The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, Men's Health, GQ, The Mirror, Trusted Reviews, TechRadar and many more (including What Hi-Fi?). His specialities include all things mobile, headphones and speakers that he can't justifying spending money on.

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