The Nothing Ear 1 headphones were the first product from the relatively new tech brand that launched the Nothing Phone 1 earlier this year. Since the Ear 1 headphones arrived in 2021, they’ve cost $99, but the company has now confirmed it’s increasing the price by $50 to $149 for those in the US. If you want to buy the headphones for $50 less, you can continue to do so until October 26. After that, it appears this price increase will be permanent.
The company said it’s due to an “increase in costs,” with the company’s CEO Carl Pei saying, “When we started developing it, we only had 3 engineers. A year later, we have 185. During this time, the Ear (1) has received 15 firmware and tuning updates, and is a completely different product to when we launched it.”
The wider world has changed a lot since Nothing introduced its first pair of headphones, with inflation increasing a lot over the last 12 months. However, it’s still sad news for anyone who was hoping that Nothing products would remain among the more affordable end of the market. That said, it's refreshing for a tech brand to give advanced warning of price increases giving those who want to buy the product a window of time to get it for a more affordable price.
October 26 is the big day for the price change, and it's the same day the company will be introducing its new Nothing Ear Stick. We don’t yet know how much those headphones will cost. We’ve yet to hear whether there will be a price increase for the Nothing Ear 1 in other markets either, so Android Police has asked Nothing for more details.
Nothing ear (1)
The Nothing Ear 1 features excellent audio quality, active noise cancelation, and decent battery life. Despite their futuristic design, they're praised for being one of the most comfortable buds on the market and are an excellent option to listen to music while commuting or working out.