Mobvoi's newest AirPods clones with active noise cancellation are almost unbelievably affordable
As more and more companies enter the thriving true wireless earbuds market while many others continue to expand their existing portfolios of AirPods alternatives, it’s naturally getting harder and harder to stand out from the pack.
But one relatively safe way to pull that off remains undercutting the aforementioned industry leaders by as much as possible while retaining as many headline-grabbing features as possible. Mobvoi, for instance, already sells the TicPods 2 at $99.99 and TicPods Free at $49.99 (currently down from a $129.99 list price), but both models lack something important that would allow them to directly rival the high-end $250 AirPods Pro.
That’s where the aptly named TicPods ANC come in, featuring active noise cancellation (aka ANC) technology at an essentially unbeatable recommended price of $89.99 that Mobvoi is already beating by offering an introductory 10 percent discount. You have until June 10 to pre-order these bad boys in exchange for a measly $80.99 in a single “Ice” (aka white) hue, at which point actual sales and deliveries will kick off both on the manufacturer’s website and Amazon.com.
In case the TicPods ANC happen to look familiar, make no mistake, these are some unapologetic AirPods Pro clones, sporting silicone ear tips for a “comfortable and secure fit” and tipping the scales at an insanely lightweight 5 grams per bud. While we obviously don’t expect the noise-cancelling functionality to work flawlessly on these dirt-cheap tiny headphones, it’s definitely nice that you can easily toggle between three distinct ANC modes.
In Quiet Mode, the TicPods ANC promise to eliminate up to 35dB of noise so you can “feel the immersive sound”, with Sound-Passthrough Mode allowing you to stay in touch with your surroundings, and ANC-Off mode… being pretty much self-explanatory in its bid to maximize battery life. That’s unsurprisingly far from impressive when compared to something like Samsung’s Galaxy Buds+, at no more than 5 hours, although that’s actually Apple’s claim as far as the AirPods Pro are concerned as well.
Meanwhile, the charging case is decidedly unremarkable, providing just 10 extra hours of juice for a grand total of only 15 compared to the “more than 24 hours” touted by the AirPods Pro when taking its own wireless charging case into consideration.
Still, it’s almost impossible to argue with the value proposition of the TicPods ANC, which are also sweat and water-resistant, with Bluetooth 5.0 support in tow, as well as Siri and Google Assistant compatibility, not to mention “rich HiFi sound” technology with a 13mm speaker onboard. These puppies are impressive (at least on paper) even when compared with other ultra-affordable true wireless earbuds, like Skullcandy’s new lineup or the Huawei FreeBuds 3i.