The Sony WH-1000XM4, the long-awaited update to the best WH-1000XM3 in its class, has been kept secret by Sony. No official details, no official release date. Nada.
That’s not to say that we don’t have information on the WH-1000XM4, however. Thanks to several leaks, we have reconstructed an image of these new in-ear headphones.
Here’s everything we know so far.
Almost identical design
Thanks to a deposit with Anatel, a Brazilian telecommunications agency, we have an idea of what the WH-1000XM4 will look like. The design, we are happy to report, is not so new. When we got our hands on the WH-1000XM3 for the inaugural product review, the slim profile, the feeling of lightness and the comfortable cut stood out. According to the photos included in the file, the next WH-1000XM4 looks like its predecessors, which is good for us.
Even better battery life
The Sony WH-1000XM3 was charged with 30 hours of battery life and an exceptionally fast charge time which gave five hours of play time after 10 minutes of charge. It was an impressive feat, to say the least, and the new headphones may be raising the bar.
According to the same file, the XM4 headphones should turn on 10 hours of autonomy, which would bring the total reading time to 40 hours. In addition to that, the nominal power consumption would drop from 8 W to 2 W from XM3 to XM4, respectively.
The price remains a mystery
We have no leaks or advice leading to pricing information for the Sony WH-1000XM4 and, with the lack of other information surrounding these headphones, that’s to be expected. The Sony WH-1000XM3 sold for $ 350 when it came out, which seems to be a solid North Star for the next edition. It would take a ton of additional features to justify a significant price hike from $ 350, and the XM4 would likely lose some key features if Sony offered them at a more affordable price.
That leaves us with an MSRP similar to the Xm3, which honestly seems to be the trade-off between tweaking stellar functionality and incredible sound in a pair of headphones that stay in an affordable price range.
Coming soon?
Sony has not announced an official release date for these new headphones. But, we have an educated theory about when these boxes will be revealed to the world.
If history is any indication, we think you can expect the release of the WH-1000XM4 before IFA 2020, scheduled for September 4-9 in Berlin – assuming it won’t be canceled due to coronavirus issues . The WH-1000XM3 was released at the same time for IFA 2018 and won our award for best wireless headphones at the show that year.
Again, Sony has not confirmed a specific date to release these headphones. Until we hear the opposite, we are betting on IFA 2020.
Some desired updates
Officially, we don’t know much else about the XM4. We do know, however, what we would like to see with these new headphones. The main of these optimistic updates would be the ability to connect to multiple devices at the same time.
With the XM3, it was one of our only complaints with a great pair of headphones. If Sony can add this functionality while retaining the features that made the XM3 great, it could have another winner in its hands.
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