The OnePlus Buds Pro 3 have leaked, again – and now there's a launch date

(Image credit: Slashleaks.com)

It seems like just yesterday we were saying that if the OnePlus Buds 3 Pro launch wasn't imminent, we'd eat an earbud – and that's because it was yesterday. But 24 hours is an eternity in the glamorous and fast-moving world of tech, don't you know, and we now have even more leaked images and a launch date too.

The OnePlus Buds 3 Pro will be launched on August 20, a week to the day after Google is expected to unveil its own new wireless earbuds, the Pixel Buds Pro 2. (Follow our Made by Google live blog for more on that). That August 20 date is for the Indian launch though; we don't yet know whether it'll be a global launch on that date or if we'll have to wait a little longer.

The latest leaked images come via Slashleaks and clearly show the case, the case with the OnePlus Buds 3 Pro sitting inside it, and the box with a fingerprint on it. And that latter image confirms one of the key specifications: LHDC support, which is a hi-res audio streaming format that's a rival to Sony's LDAC.

What OnePlus has said about the OnePlus Buds Pro 3

You've got to love OnePlus: while images of the Buds Pro 3 are all over the internet and have been for some time, the company is going ahead with a teaser campaign that shows the new case in silhouette – and as India Today reports, it's keeping the specifications, which have also leaked, under wraps.

According to OnePlus, the focus this time around is on refining the existing formula to deliver upgraded performance and better audio.

While OnePlus is keeping its specs secret, the leak factory tells us that the Buds Pro 3 have a dual-driver setup with a 6mm tweeter and an 11mm woofer, Bluetooth 5.4, 43 hours of battery life and fast charging.

What the leaks don't tell us is how these earbuds sound, and that was the main downside in our review of the OnePlus Buds Pro 2: as my colleague Matt Bolton said, when you're up against the likes of the Sony WF-1000XM4 and the imminent Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 "you've got to nail the audio" as well as deliver snazzy features such as ANC and personalized audio profiles.

We found that with the second generation, the sound quality doesn't match the best wireless earbuds at a similar price: the bass and treble were fine, but the mid-range lacked energy, clarity and spaciousness. With Google about to raise the Android earbud bar with its own pro buds, audio performance is an area where these new OnePlus buds need to excel.

Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than a dozen books. Her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, is on sale now and her next book, about pop music, is out in 2025. She is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind.