If you’ve been following Nothing’s journey, you know Carl Pei’s startup has always thrived on doing things differently, sometimes bordering on the dramatic. Their third-gen flagship, the Nothing Ear (3), just dropped, and true to form, they’ve done something that’ll make even the most jaded tech enthusiast raise an eyebrow. Forget about the see-through aesthetic for a second, because this time, the real showstopper is the case. Yes, the charging case. With a feature called the Super Mic, Nothing has effectively turned it into a makeshift walkie talkie for the TikTok era.
Before we get to the weirdness, let’s acknowledge that Nothing has become a sort of cult disruptor. Ever since the first Ear (1) landed with its transparent plastic and minimalist UI, the company’s been building a loyal following, all while poking fun at Apple’s walled garden. The Ear (3) keeps that see-through vibe, but adds a hint of recycled metal and a slightly tweaked shape for better comfort and pressure relief. At $179, it’s priced a bit higher than the original, but you’re getting 12mm drivers for punchier bass, Bluetooth 5.4 with multipoint, LDAC support, and up to 45dB of real-time adaptive ANC. Battery life is a notch up too, with 5.5 hours on a single charge (ANC on) and a total of 38 hours if you count the case. Both the buds and the case have an IP54 rating, so you can sweat it out at the gym or get caught in the rain, no stress.
Designer: Nothing
But let’s be real, the Super Mic is the conversation starter here. The idea is disarmingly simple: press the Talk button on the case, and suddenly, you’re speaking into the case itself, not the buds in your ears. The case packs a dual-mic system that Nothing claims can slice up to 95dB of background noise, a leap if you’re the kind who takes calls from bustling cafes, subway platforms, or, I don’t know, the front row of a metal concert. The case becomes your mic stand, and apparently, this makes your voice cut through chaos like a hot knife through butter. You can even use it to record voice notes with automatic transcription on Nothing OS-equipped phones. It’s odd, but oddly logical for people who want a next-level mic experience without lugging around extra gear.
There’s a wink-and-nudge at Apple here, too. Nothing’s launch materials make it clear they think AirPods Pro’s “best-in-class” ANC is fair game for a little friendly fire. Pei and team love to use Apple as the measuring stick, but the real question is: can Nothing keep thriving if they ever step out of Apple’s shadow? Their whole marketing playbook is built on “not Apple” energy, whether it’s squaring up against AirPods or riffing on iOS’s walled garden. It’s a clever strategy that works for now, but one wonders if the company can define its own lane once the novelty wears off.
Still, for people who want something different, Ear (3) delivers. Beyond the Super Mic, the earbuds are loaded with three mics per bud, a bone-conduction voice pickup, and support for spatial audio, low-latency gaming, in-ear detection, and all the usual app-based customization. You even get ChatGPT and Nothing’s Essential Space integration if you’re running the right phone. As for colors, you get the classic black and white options, and they’re already up for grabs on Nothing’s website and Amazon, with a wider release set for September 25.
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