Sony WF-1000XM4: The latest leaks of the true wireless earbuds

Another week and another leak for the Sony’s upcoming true wireless earbuds. While Sony hasn’t officially announced the headphones, speculation has been building that they are on their way sooner rather than later.

The latest (and biggest) leak appeared on WinFuture, as the German site found some more images and dug up some more details about the earbud’s specification.

There’s already been the (obligatory) FCC reveal, a possible look at the packaging, leaks of the promotional video for France, retail listings and official press photos. At this rate we’d be surprised if there isn’t anything we don’t know about the headphones ahead of release.

Here’s what you need to know about the Sony WF-1000XM4 true wireless earbuds.

How much will the Sony WF-1000XM4 cost?

The Sony WF-1000XM3 went on sale for £220 and we can’t see Sony diverging far from that path unless it has something big under its sleeves.

Bose’s QuietComfort Earbuds were £249 and Bowers & Wilkins PI7 are £349, so there’s certainly some wiggle room to play with compared to two years ago.

Given the WF-1000XM3 are currently around £170, we can imagine the new earbuds being priced around the £220 to £250 mark. The info found by WinFuture implied at €279 RRP, so that would seem to confirm our suspicions that the XM4’s will be more expensive.

When will the Sony WF-1000XM4 be released?

Given the WF-1000XM3 went on sale around July 2019, and that Sony’s sense of time-keeping with products is similar to Gandalf’s from Lord of the Rings, we can presume the WF-1000XM4 will arrive precisely when they mean to. So we’re thinking another July release.

We know they’re on their way – FCC ‘leaks’ serve as confirmation that a release is not far off. Leaks of the packaging indicate the headphones are in the process of finalisation, while The Walkman Blog did some sleuthing and found that the end term of confidentiality for the headphones is June 9th. That suggests an announcement in early June.

We certainly don’t think Sony would make the announcement at an industry event such as IFA in early September, especially now that IFA is digital only.

credit: The Walkman Blog

What do the WF-1000XM4 look like?

Early May provided a clearer look thanks to a leak by twitter user mirai160525. And the XM4s are looking very fine indeed.

One issue we had about their predecessors was the slightly bulky nature of the design. They weren’t that massive, but efforts from other brands such as Apple, Bose and Sennheiser have taken a more ergonomic approach, and that appears to be the case with the WF-1000XM4. There are no wing-tips for a secure fit, so it’s all about the shape and size of the earbuds to create the best fit/seal.

They look smaller and more svelte than either of their predecessors. We can imagine they’ll weigh less too. The Sony logo has been re-positioned on sides rather than on top, and the same sleek gold accents remain.

Like the full-sized XM4 headphones, the XM4 earbuds look like they’ll be available come in black and platinum silver finishes at launch.

Leaked images of the WF-1000XM4 show a new design

There appears to be a larger area for the touch controls, but we’re also wondering what the round gold accent on top could be (a physical button, an external microphone?).

The charging case is visibly slimmer and smaller. If Sony can reduce the size and maintain the same (if not better) battery life, that would be a positive. Noted leaker Evan Blass revealed a set of renders, but these are similar to previously leaked images with a few more angles included.

credit: @mirai160525

WinFuture reported that the WF-1000XM4 will have an IPX4 rating for water and sweat resistance, and that could make these earbuds a better option for workouts. We’d still imagine you’ll be better off sticking to their cheaper, fitness focused versions.

What features will the Sony WF-1000XM4 have?

Of course they’ll feature active/adaptive noise cancellation, and we expect Sony will be pushing to offer even better suppression than before given how Bose has set an impressive standard. Though that’s with reduced battery life compared to the WF-1000XM3, we should add.

Thanks to a notice on the Bluetooth certification site, we know the WF-1000XM4 (codenamed “YY2498”) will feature the latest version of the standard in Bluetooth 5.2. The 5.2 version appeared in early 2020, and introduced LE Audio (Low Energy Audio), which can transfer higher quality audio at low data rates while using less power than previous versions.

The mention of high quality audio is a neat segue into what codecs the WF-1000XM4 could support. Given Sony has turned away from aptX in recent years – the WH-1000XM4 shunned Qualcomm’s codec completely despite the WH-1000XM3 featuring it – we can expect the same result here. Don’t expect aptX and aptX-HD to make an appearance, especially as the SoC (System on Chip) is a MediaTek chip.

So we expect SBC and AAC, and the MediaTek chip and Bluetooth LE Audio support given a boost to lower quality streams. Based on reports, the WF-1000XM4 will include Sony’s LDAC codec. That would put these true wireless into Hi-Res Audio territory.

If the leaked packaging on Reddit is true, battery life seems like it will be the same as the previous model: six hours with ANC on with another three charges in the case.

The report on WinFuture says that with ANC off, battery life will be 12 hours per charge with another three refills to take it to 36. That’s a sizeable improvement over the previous model, if true.

We’d imagine Qi wireless charging is on the menu as well as fast-charging. Otherwise everything that was in the WF-1000XM3 should carry over, from Adaptive and Ambient Sound Control, Speak to Chat, 360 Reality Audio support to DSEE HX upscaling engine possibly being upgraded to the Extreme version seen in the WH-1000XM4.

A choice of Google and Alexa voice assistants will surely be on the table, if not from the get go then via an update down the line. The Quick Attention Mode that filtered in sound from the surrounding environment should return, too.

So that’s everything we’re expecting to see from the Sony WF-1000XM4. If recent reports are true, they could be arriving soon, and when they do, Trusted Reviews will be looking to put them through their paces to see how they fare.
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