OnePlus showcased its new wireless earbuds, the OnePlus Buds 4, on its official website. They debuted in China on May 27, 2025, right alongside the OnePlus Ace 5 Ultra. Interestingly, the global version of these Bluetooth earbuds—the Realme Buds Air 7 Pro—launches on the exact same day. If you haven’t watched the Realme review yet, check it out, as those earbuds turned out so impressive that they outperformed every flagship model in sound quality, including the OnePlus Buds 3 Pro, HUAWEI FreeBuds Pro 4, and Nothing ear (3). Because of that, my expectations for the OnePlus Buds 4 are sky-high: at a minimum, matching sound quality, and ideally a new temporary reference point among wireless earbuds until the OnePlus Buds 4 Pro drop. A full review of the OnePlus Buds 4 is on the way, but I need your support. Drop a like and a comment on the news to let me know how excited you are to see how these earbuds perform.
What’s new? With the in-ear earbuds OnePlus Buds 4, the company is focusing on four main pillars: sound, noise cancellation, translation, and in-game audio latency. Here is how they stack up against the OnePlus Buds 3: you get the acoustic system from the OnePlus Buds 3 Pro, live and simultaneous translation features, active noise cancellation rated at up to 55 dB (a 6 dB jump), and an automatic Game Mode that drops audio latency down to 47 ms.
Sound. Judging by the renders, OnePlus didn’t reinvent the wheel—or rather, the drivers—opting instead to use the acoustic system from last year’s flagship OnePlus Buds Pro 3 earbuds. That explains why the Buds 3 Pro suddenly vanished from AliExpress listings. I just hope this isn’t purely a visual resemblance, or the Realme Buds Air 7 Pro will keep the crown for sound. Either way, instead of two dynamic drivers, we’re looking at an 11 mm dynamic driver paired with a 6 mm high-frequency tweeter. That said, the Realme Buds Air 7 Pro had a seemingly identical setup on paper yet sound completely different in practice.
A dual DAC has been included for independent control over low and high frequencies. While last year a dual DAC was exclusive to flagship earbuds, it’s now becoming standard for mid-range models. My prediction about the Bluetooth codec was spot on: the earbuds support the LHDC 5.0 Bluetooth codec, which isn’t nearly as widely supported on smartphones as LDAC.
Noise cancellation. Active noise cancellation now blocks up to 55 dB instead of 49 dB, and the cancellation bandwidth has expanded from 4000 to 5500 Hz. Voice suppression is twice as effective now. There’s also adaptive noise cancellation that automatically adjusts to your environment. Each earbud packs three microphones with software noise reduction, just like the previous generation. The OnePlus Buds 3 had great mics, so I’m expecting even better recording quality and background noise suppression.
Translator. The OnePlus Buds 4 support live, simultaneous translation. Promotional materials point to support for dozens of languages, plus a conversation summarization feature that logs the key takeaways from a chat. We’ll have to wait for a full review to test the actual number of supported languages and translation quality. For now, we can confirm that translation isn’t locked to a specific phone brand or operating system, unlike what you get with Huawei or Xiaomi. It relies entirely on the standalone HeyMelody app. OnePlus phone owners will get a few extra perks through built-in firmware tools, much like Apple does with AirPods.
Gaming. OnePlus is marketing these heavily as gaming gear. The previous generation had a latency of 94 ms, which dropped by half in Game Mode. The OnePlus Buds 4 push that even further with a 47 ms latency in Game Mode, which now kicks in automatically the second you launch a game. According to OnePlus, the mix of low latency, solid sound quality, and strong noise cancellation lets you completely lose yourself in a game—unless it’s just a simple gacha game. Multipoint is also supported for seamless switching between two devices, so you can easily take a phone call while gaming on your tablet. In short, they’ve packed in everything to make your life easier.
Features. Touch controls with vertical swipe gestures carry over largely unchanged from the OnePlus Buds 3. Dust and water resistance holds steady at an IP55 rating. However, you do get Bluetooth 5.4 instead of 5.3. Battery life sees a minor bump, lasting 30 to 60 minutes longer depending on the codec: 11 hours on AAC and 5.5 hours on LHDC. With the charging case, you get 45 hours total using AAC, up from 44.
Design. The charging case has a brand-new look. Based on the renders, it’s virtually identical to the OnePlus Buds Pro 3 and the OPPO Enco Air4 Pro. The case uses plastic with a metallic finish, which likely uses metal powder in the paint to mimic actual metal. It comes in two color options: space gray and pine green. The earbuds themselves have a redesigned shape while still keeping some design cues from the last generation.
Price and availability. The starting price in China sits right around $63 (449 yuan). Folks, when was the last time we saw OnePlus show this kind of generosity? That’s literally half the launch price of the OnePlus Buds 3. They go on sale immediately following the May 27 presentation. You probably won’t find them under $100 during the first week while scalpers are clearing out stock, but by the summer sales in a couple of weeks, prices should settle down to match the Realme Buds Air 7 Pro around $60–$70. Keep a close eye on the deals featured on the homepage of our website, mychooz.com, and always grab the latest promo codes to save some cash.
What would you be interested in comparing this model with? Write in the comments.
