Meet the Microsoft Surface Earbuds: a $249 pair of wireless earbuds with a promised 24 hours of battery life, coming this holiday season.
When Microsoft unveiled the earbuds on Wednesday, it promised that they'll have most of what you'd expect from earbuds like this: they pair easily with Windows and Android devices over Bluetooth, Microsoft says, and let you control music on Spotify and answer phone calls by tapping on them. They come in a charging case as well.
The buds have some more Microsoft-specific features, too, in the form of an integration with the Office 365 suite. Microsoft says that Surface Earbuds are designed to let you dictate text into apps like Microsoft Word or Microsoft Teams, and that they'll even let you change slides on PowerPoint by swiping on them.
This isn't Microsoft's first foray into premium audio. Last year, Microsoft introduced the noise-cancelling Surface Headphones, priced at $350.
This time out, Microsoft will be going head-to-head with Apple's ubiquitous AirPods. But where the AirPods are priced at $160, Microsoft's asking price of $249 may turn would-be buyers off. Similarly, the recently announced $130 Amazon Echo Buds may present a more affordable alternative, especially since they're powered by Bose's vaunted noise-cancellation technology.
There are also matters of design to consider. In order to achieve the 24-hour battery life, it seems, Microsoft had to make the Surface Earbuds rather large compared with its competitors. And, of course, we haven't actually heard how the Surface Earbuds sound just yet, which may be the most important factor of all.
Still, the original Surface Headphones won positive reviews, despite the pricetag. If Microsoft can repeat the trick with the Surface Earbuds, it might have the makings of a successful push into the premium audio market — especially with the appeal to Windows super-fans and Office power users.
