Newly-leaked import documents suggest that the forthcoming Sony WF-1000XM6 earbuds are being moved around for testing. We could therefore see a launch within months.
There are also great Prime Day deals on the existing WF-1000XM5 buds in the meantime.
Sony's best noise cancelling earbuds, the WF-1000XM5, have been around for a whilem considering they first hit the market in 2023. And now, it looks like we'll see their successors soon, because the Sony WF-1000XM6 in-ears have appeared in a new leak.
That's worth bearing in mind if you're scouring the Prime Day deals on headphones and earbuds right now – for example, Amazon UK is currently discounting the WF-1000XM5 down to £170.05, down from the usual £219.00. But as good as the XM5s are, and they are very good, we're now expecting to see a newer, upgraded model before the end of this year.
Sony WF-1000XM6: what we know so far
This latest leak comes from The Walkman Blog, which is very good at locating upcoming Sony products buried in official documentation.
Back in May, it discovered the internal code Sony was using for the WF-1000XM6 earbuds, and despite Sony's best efforts to keep them secret, it's now found them listed in an official import filing.
The filing describes the buds as "headphones without a frame" and is for importing the buds to Vietnam for testing. That happens quite late in the production process so it strongly suggests that we'll see a retail launch in 2025.
The next lot of leaks are likely to come via the official certification documents that many countries require before new electronic products can go on sale.
The blog's sources can't shed any light on the WF-1000XM6 specifications just yet, but it's very likely that they'll feature the new Mediatek MT2855 system-on-a-chip for their Bluetooth capabilities.
The documents also suggest that the buds are going to be very slightly smaller this time around, and that might mean marginally smaller batteries as in the WH-1000XM6 over-ears.
