Honor is the Chinese consumer brand originally created by Huawei, but which was later spun off to a conglomerate, allowing it to continue to serve the markets affected by bans and restrictions imposed on the state-owned technology giant. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Honor continues to lead the way in smartphones, laptops, and wearables, with its unique R&D resources applied to all aspects of hardware... and software. We need to discount the fact that - like most of these large Chinese manufacturers - Honor seems obsessed with emulating and surpassing Apple, leading to sometimes strange design decisions and product strategies. This in fact sometimes even obscures the advanced technologies that the company applies in many of its products, and that they seem to be leading now in AI audio processing and edge-AI in general.
In fact, just before the opening of the 2025 Mobile World Congress (MWC), the company announced its new Honor Alpha Plan, a new corporate strategy to transform Honor from a smartphone maker to “a global leading AI device ecosystem company” - whatever that means. According to what was announced, Honor will “open industrial boundaries through open, seamless collaboration to co-create a value-sharing ecosystem with industry partners.” In practice, when looking at what is shown in the massive Honor booth at MWC 2025, for now it means some of the best AI applications running on-device. Sometimes useful, sometimes great, sometimes not so much.
The new Honor Earbuds Open are already a reflection of Honor’s leadership in all aspects of product design, in a very competitive space, where it’s easy to just copy others and launch me-too products - like it’s easy to find everywhere at the Barcelona show. Featuring an ergonomically crafted open-ear design, the Honor Earbuds Open are optimized to ensure a safe and comfortable listening experience. They are an ear-hook design that doesn’t rest on the temple area like some bone conduction designs, but instead seats directly over the external ear canal. In fact, the ear-hook gets balanced when the speaker driver area is correctly positioned, slightly inserted in the ear. This makes the whole acoustic system more effective and allows Honor to explore a unique dual driver design (tweeter plus dedicated midbass/bass driver) that extends the frequency response in regular use.
Each earbud weighs just 7.9g and incorporates skin-friendly silicone in the design, delivering exceptional comfort over prolonged usage. Designed for everyday use - commuting, working out, working in the office, or relaxing at home - the Honor Earbuds Open utilize a high-performance nitinol memory alloy, ensuring optimal stability and comfort during intense use and even exercise. The skin-friendly materials make them ideal for users who prioritize comfort alongside functionality.
From that excellent design foundation, Honor created a sophisticated platform that allows another level of sound in open ears (which are not that open anymore). The Honor Earbuds Open's premium audio capabilities are the result of the combined 16mm toroidal multi-magnetic structure that supports two dynamic drivers arranged into the same assembly. One high-elasticity TPU composite diaphragm in the bass driver, and one titanium-plated tweeter dome. The bass response is further enhanced by a virtual bass algorithm, while the tweeter enables enhancing a spatial audio effect, independently of the source (it helps to make calls more immersive, according to Honor).
Next is the really sophisticated part - considering this is partially an open-ear design. The Active Noise Cancellation for Open-ear Design that Honor perfected, effectively reduces ambient noise, while the Environmental Noise Cancellation feature ensures clear calls in windy conditions (windproof up to 6m/s). When the user is in crowded settings like public transport or busy streets, the noise-cancellation feature can minimize ambient noise, while a reverse sound field acoustic system directs sound exclusively into the ears, to reduce audio leakage. According to Honor, even in quiet environments such as elevators or conference rooms, users will be able to chat freely without worrying about privacy.
The acoustic front end, that combines a 3 microphone array plus bone conduction sensor, is then enhanced through integrated AI capabilities. While the audio processing enhancement features including the sophisticated noise reduction processing is supported by trained models that run on-device, most of what Honor calls AI is in fact supported by other connected Honor devices, such as the Honor Magic7 Pro smartphone. With that combination, the Honor Earbuds support AI Translation features and integration with Google Assistant.
Equipped with a robust 58mAh battery and 480mAh charging case, the Honor Earbuds Open deliver up to 22 hours and a single-cycle battery life of up to 6 hours. The design also includes a Find Earbuds function that emits a beeping sound to help locate misplaced earbuds, and intuitive touch controls for playing music, activating Noise Reduction, and more. No other specifications are detailed at this moment.
www.honor.com
