Sony WF-1000XM5 earbuds take on a new shape in latest leaks

Andrew Romero | Mar 16 2023 - 8:18 am PT

It has been a long wait for the newest top-shelf Sony wireless earbuds to finally make their way to the public eye. The latest leaks showcase newly designed Sony WF-1000XM5 earbuds that we can only assume pack some of the high-end audio we’ve come to expect from the WF line.

The Sony WF-1000XM4 earbuds of yesteryear were quite the product. The design was on the bulky side, with many referring to them as “truffles.” Besides the look, the consensus among users was that the WF-1000XM4’s were some of the very best earbuds you could get, and are still regarded as one of the best earbud options even though they were released in 2021.

Now, that era might be coming to an end with Sony’s latest upgrade to that lineup soon on its way. Recent leaks sourced from its certification process reveal both the ins and outs of the WF-1000XM5 earbuds, giving us some detail as to how they look and what kind of tech they actually pack (via The WalkmanBlog).

In the uncovered images, we get a good look at the WF-1000XM5 earbud by itself. It clearly takes on a new shape, as the previous version was much more circular and had a flatter face on the outside. The new design looks to be more spherical, which may lend itself to a better fit.

Of course, it’s hard to tell since every single photo leaked is a pre-production image, leaving a lot of the design aspect mostly unfinished. The FCC filing indicates that the outer surface includes a touch sensor, like most earbuds these days. However, it’ll be interesting to see if Sony implements it’s skin touch technology as it did in the Sony Linkbuds.

The case itself looks to take on a very similar design to the previous model, though this profile is a little more rounded out, which seems to be the common theme. One interesting note is that the charging specifications have changed from case to case, hitting 5V at 230mAh.

The previous specification landed at 140mAh, which could indicate faster charging speeds for the earbuds and case. Again, it’s hard to gather specific details from leaked certification images, as they’re taken with the intention of giving only very necessary info.

The last couple of images showcase the internals, both within the earbuds and laid out on a plane. The wiring system gives off a couple of key details, such as a set of microphones labeled “2” and “6” by sources, as well as what looks like could be contacts for a secondary driver. This could mean that we’ll see a second driver setup in the Sony WF-1000XM5 earbuds, which could mean better and bigger sound.

While these certification photos don’t give us specific details, they do show off an exciting setup that has the potential to best the WF-1000XM4’s of two years ago. Sony hasn’t made any official WF-1000XM5 announcement as of yet, though we don’t expect it to be much longer until the earbuds are a reality.