Huawei has taken the wraps off its latest true wireless pair of earphones: the Freebuds Pro. Building on the tech introduced in 2019, the latest pair claims to offer better noise-cancelling than the competition and great sound quality. 

Design-wise, while similar to the market leaders, there's enough here to distinguish the latest Freebuds from the likes of Apple's AirPods

The plastic casing that fits in the ear is designed to fit in comfortably, while the silicone tip is designed to offer an effective seal, while the rectangular shaft protruding downwards is different to what we've seen from other manufacturers. 

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What's more, they come in three different colours, including a very attractive silver frost which has a gorgeous dark smoky chrome look to its. The other two colours are black and white. 

As for the tech inside, it's here where Huawei is attempting to lead the market, and it starts with a more capable active noise cancelling system. 

It uses a dual HD mic system (one inside, one outside) which are highly sensitive microphones and - combined with the processor inside - can constantly adapt to the noise around you to choose the best ANC setting. 

Those three modes are called Cozy, General and Ultra, with the latter killing off the most noise. Huawei says its 40dB noise-cancelling depth is ahead of rivals Apple and Sony with their AirPods Pro and WF-1000XM3 respectively. 

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Of course, the earbuds can also use this noise cancelling hardware to pass through ambient sound into the internal drivers, allowing you to hear what's going on around you. 

This has two modes: one for general awareness, the other for voice enhancement which allows you to hear talking clearly. Useful for when you need to place an order at a coffee shop or for those types of quick interactions. 

Sound is delivered by a pretty large 11m driver to each ear, which then uses what Huawei calls a mechanical audio stabilisation system. What this does, essentially, is ensure that the only vibrations delivered to your ears are the vibrations of the music itself and minimises distortion. 

Battery life sounds promising too, with 30 hours of total music playback between the batteries in the earbuds and the battery in the charging case. Although, outside of the case you get only 4.5 hours of playback with ANC switched on, and 7 hours with ANC off. 

Huawei Freebuds Pro offer advanced ANC in a compact, wire-free package photo 5
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As is customary these days, you control the audio using touch-sensitive panels on the earbuds. These controls will also be used for adjusting ANC and even increasing and decreasing the volume. 

The Freebuds Pro wasn't the only earphones announced by Huawei, they're also joined by the Freelace Pro which offers a neckband design plus even larger 14mm drivers in each ear. 

The diaphragm is built using a magnesium alloy, while the battery inside is capable of providing up to 24 hours of music playback, which is great by any standard. They will ship in Graphite Black, Spruce Green and Dawn White. 

Freebuds Pro go on sale in October for €199 in Europe, while the Freelace Pro will be a steal at just €119 and available this month.