It looks like Samsung is about to release some truly wireless earbuds.Leaked images of the earbuds, called the Gear IconX, were leaked to Venture Beat on Tuesday.
The Gear IconX Bluetooth earphones are two unattached earbuds, meaning there’s no wire that connects them. That’s significant because most “wireless” earbuds that have been released so far technically aren’t wireless, as they need a wire to connect the two.
Jaybird’s X2 earbuds are a good example of semi-wireless earbuds that have a wire connecting each bud:
According to Venture Beat’s Evan Blass, the IconX will come with a case that also charges the earbuds, much like the Motorola Hint:
They’ll also act as a fitness tracking device, and will be able to store up to 4GB of music so you don’t need to bring a relatively heavy smartphone with you during workouts.
It’s also significant because Apple is rumored to be releasing its own pair of wireless earbuds, as other rumors claim that Apple will ditch the headphone jack on the iPhone 7. If true, the only ways to listen to music on the iPhone 7 would be with wireless Bluetooth headphones or via the Lightning port.
If Apple does release wireless earbuds, they could be pretty similar to Samsung’ IconX earbuds. Still, nothing is concrete until Apple makes it official. We expect Apple to unveil an iPhone 7 without a headphone jack (but with wireless earbuds) during Apple’s Fall iPhone event in September.
It looks like Samsung’s earbuds will be here a lot sooner than that though.