OnePlus has announced the Buds Z2

UPDATES:

2021-12-17, 00:51 CET

OnePlus has now officially announced their Buds Z2. We've put most of the specifications and attributes in the table below. For more information, we recommend you reading the announcement and viewing the Buds Z2 page.

2021-12-09, 21:34 CET

Today, OnePlus announced on their forums that the Buds Z2 will be launched on Instagram. It's an exclusive launch that will take place on the 16th of December 2021 at 2:30pm CET. The launch is exclusively for European users, and specifically the following countries:

• Germany
• Finland
• Belgium/Netherlands
• Denmark
• France
• United Kingdom
• Romania
• Sweden

There are also a few surprises according to OnePlus:

• On December 15th,
  • Red Cable Club members will be able to buy Buds Z2 with early access and 10% off;
• On December 16th,
  • Instanote will start at 2:30PM CET
  • Right after, we will have a very special offer for pre-orders

The event page is up and confirms some specifications that we've written about earlier (see below). For example, it confirms the 38 hours of battery life and the ability to fast charge. The page also confirms 40dB Active Noise Cancelling and 11mm 'large dynamic drivers'. Furthermore, you can compare different Buds on the event page.

2021-09-28 17:27 GMT

Leaker Max Jambor posted several specifications of the Buds Z2 on Twitter. According to him, the Buds Z2 should feature an IP55 rating, Active Noise Cancellation and support Bluetooth 5.2 specification along with Dolby Atmos technology. Likewise, fast charging the Buds Z2 for 10 minutes should allow you to use them for 5 hours. A full charge of the Buds Z2 should make them last for 7 hours, and using the charging case may allow you to go as high at 38 hours. In addition to that, the Buds Z2 should also be available in black colour, besides a white one.

Original article has been preserved below.

OnePlus has recently launched several devices: the Nord 2, the Nord N200, the 9R and the Nord CE. Its audio segment also welcomed the OnePlus Buds Pro on August 25th. Following that, on August 31st, leaker Max Jambor posted on Twitter that OnePlus is working on a cheaper version of the Buds Pro which would feature Active Noise Cancellation.

Today, on September 10th 2021, leaker Steve H. McFly (also known as OnLeaks on Twitter) posted designs (based on real-life images) of the currently unreleased OnePlus Buds Z2, which we have reproduced below for your convenience. Note that although the designs show a white SKU, it is possible there will be other SKUs featuring different colours — after all, OnePlus has made a Steven Harrington version of the Buds Z.

As per 91Mobiles' report, those Buds Z2 share a design quite similar to the original Buds Z, and they are set to launch in India in October 2021 alongside with the 9RT. Again as noted by 91Mobiles, the Buds Z2 have several cutouts, which are likely to be used for the active noise cancellation feature previously hinted at by Max Jambor.

Besides that, we performed few days ago a teardown of the OnePlus Buds app (latest version 1.3.6), which added a reference to a product ID (061014) in an XML file, alongside with a new setup guide for said product.

Based on this APK teardown, we are under the impression that this product ID is for the Buds Z2, and that they will have several Buds Pro functionalities working out of the box. Those functionalities are single-tap control, noise control, and dual connection support (do however mind that dual connection feature isn't live yet on Buds Pro, but should come within next OTAs).
Below are the strings for the same, which were introduced in the APK at the same time as the updated XML and JSON files present above.

<string name="earphone_428_guide_control_summary">Single-tap to play or pause audio, double-tap to play next track, and triple-tap to play previous track. You can customize tap actions in settings.</string>
<string name="earphone_428_guide_control_summary_3">@string/function_guide_pinch_thrice_no_link_exp</string>
<string name="earphone_428_guide_noise_summary">Switch between noise control modes.</string>
<string name="earphone_428_guide_noise_summary_new">Touch and hold for 1 second to switch between noise control modes. You can perform the %1$s to ensure you get the best noise cancellation experience.</string>
<string name="earphone_428_guide_noise_title">@string/function_guide_switch_noise_control_title</string>
<string name="earphone_428_guide_switch_summary">Switch between devices.</string>
<string name="earphone_428_guide_switch_summary_new">Touch and hold for 3 seconds to switch between devices.</string>
<string name="earphone_428_guide_switch_title">Switch devices</string>
<string name="earphone_428_press_1_summary">Switch between noise control modes.</string>
<string name="earphone_428_press_1_summary_1">Significantly reduce external noise.</string>
<string name="earphone_428_press_1_summary_2">@string/function_noise_reduction_weak_mode_tips</string>
<string name="earphone_428_press_1_summary_3">@string/function_noise_transparent_mode_tips</string>
<string name="earphone_428_press_1_summary_4">@string/function_noise_normal_mode_tips_oneplus</string>
<string name="earphone_428_press_3_switch_summary">Switch between the two most recently connected devices.</string>

Some of those strings refer to previously existing strings, which we have reproduced below for reference.

<string name="function_guide_pinch_thrice_no_link_exp">Play previous track or wake the voice assistant.</string>
<string name="function_guide_switch_noise_control_title">Noise control</string>
<string name="function_noise_reduction_weak_mode_tips">Mildly reduce external noise</string>
<string name="function_noise_transparent_mode_tips">External noise can be heard</string>
<string name="function_noise_normal_mode_tips_oneplus">Turn off Noise cancellation and Transparency modes</string>