I test earbuds for a living and have been happily watching a new trend take the affordable earbud market by storm throughout 2025. In fact, I expect it to become so prevalent by 2026 that by the end of the year our list of the best wireless earbuds will be dominated by budget options. Would you trade in your AirPods for a cheaper alternative?
This sea change in the earbud market is just one of several headphone predictions I have for 2026, as constant changes in technology mean disruption is expected in everything from the best headphones to open-back earbuds and everything in between.
I’ve been reviewing headphones for years, so here’s what I’m expecting in the new year based on the gadgets I’ve tested and the trends I’ve seen over my years testing audio products.
What are the big releases?
Before I examine the big headphone trends of 2026, let’s take a quick look at some of the big releases that will land on your year-end wish list. Don’t expect AirPods Pro 4 and the chances of new 5th generation AirPods are also slim, but there are plenty of other big releases.
The Sony WF-1000XM6 and Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro are expected to be among the premium earbuds of the year, while the Sennheiser Momentum 5 and AirPods Max 2 are the headphones everyone is waiting for. There’s no guarantee that any of these headphones will hit the market, but all are both hoped for and, to varying degrees, likely.
Of course, we will also see countless new releases from smaller brands as well as alternatives to the big-name options from many companies.
A big year for cheap earbuds
If you are a fan of the best budget headphones, then 2026 is sure to be a year full of new releases to tempt you. I used hyperbolic language in the introduction about how big this change could be, but I really have high hopes for it.
The second half of 2025 saw more pairs of affordable earbuds with multiple drivers hit the market, like the Earfun Air Pro 4 Plus with two or the Soundpeats H3 with three. And I expect this to be in full swing in 2026.
What does this technology mean? To put it simply, a driver is a small speaker for an earbud, and most budget options only have one, which needs to cover the entire audio spectrum like a jack of all trades but master of none. Multiple drivers mean each can be tuned to a specific range such as bass or treble, giving you higher quality and better tuning whether you’re listening to some bass or screaming guitar solos.
Earbuds with two or three drivers are nothing new, but affordable options used to be rare. And as that changes in 2025, it’s clear that manufacturers will find ways to offer multiple drivers while keeping costs down. The year 2026 therefore promises even more options and the budget market will have found another way to compete with the top models.
In short, you’ll soon no longer have to spend $300 more to get incredible-sounding earbuds. Just $100 will be enough.
Big headphone changes will happen under the hood
Beyond iterative updates like improved battery life and slightly different drivers, I don’t expect 2026’s over-ear headphones to bring completely different hardware than what we saw in 2025. All new noticeable changes are expected to come under the hood in the form of new features.
One of the expected innovations is something we’ve been seeing in headphones for a few years now, but is expected to see a breakthrough in 2026: spatial audio. This is an intelligent system that converts your sound into a 3D sound space with you at the center, similar to surround sound, except that surround sound technology only shifts the music left or right. Spatial audio can give the impression that sounds are also coming from above and below.
While it works for music, spatial audio is most commonly used for watching movies or playing games. As handheld technology becomes more popular for these tasks, spatial audio could be a key selling point for headphones in 2026. It’s still a bit of a coincidence, but ongoing technological advances promise that ubiquitous and perfect spatial sound could soon be available.
Elsewhere in the features department, we’re likely to see more companies challenging Bose as the best noise cancellation brand, with several brands reaching the limit of how good ANC can be. After all, there’s only so much sound that can be suppressed before none can be heard, and as Bose approaches that limit, budget brands will be hot on its heels.
By 2025, audio hearing tests will become more common. These are in-app features that can test the sensitivity of your ears and create customized equalization mixes to address any issues with your hearing. They are legitimately fantastic tools that help listeners appreciate their music in a new way and also ensure accessibility. While a number of brands have already announced these features, more companies could release versions in 2026.
And what about the AI ​​functions? We could see some auto-ANC or audio EQ features, but audio brands have largely stayed away from building AI-powered tools into their earbuds (aside from the ability to summon AI assistants on certain models). Finally, AI lacks something that human sound engineers have: ears.
A return to wired headphones
One of the biggest audio tech earthquakes of 2025 was the launch of Spotify Lossless, allowing subscribers to the world’s largest streaming service to enjoy incredibly high-resolution audio – in theory. In practice, the technology required to make the most of it means that many wireless headphone users currently can’t get the most out of it.
With the increased interest in high-fidelity music streaming, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a resurgence in wired headphones – not just cheap earbuds, but also over-ears that also require a cable. After all, cables transmit much more information (and therefore music fidelity) than wireless options can handle.
Lossless isn’t unique, as Tidal and Apple Music also have audiophile-friendly modes, but Spotify has such a large market share that its big feature could signal a sea change in music fans’ expectations. There’s always been a place for wired cans in the market, but these tend to be super-cheap or super-premium models, and perhaps a new segment will be carved out in the middle.
The renaissance of open earphones
Another type of headphones that became increasingly popular in 2025 were open-back earphones. These are training earbuds that allow sound to pass through so you can safely hear what’s going on around you. They come in two styles: sport hook-style options like the Shokz OpenFit 2 and clipping models like the Bose Ultra Open.
However, open earbuds are still prone to some problems, probably because they are still fairly new. Over the year, I tested countless options that were a poor fit, headphones that were difficult to hear in ambient noise, and options that didn’t offer nearly the functionality of non-open alternatives.
However, these problems are slowly being solved by various brands and I predict that 2026 will be the year we see large amounts of tempting open options. With the form factor still largely reserved for smaller brands, we could also see releases from companies that have stayed away, like Beats, Samsung and Sony (the latter’s LinkBuds are more of a role model).
Once open-back earbuds become commonplace, I expect we’ll also see more models designed for non-athletes, as there are some use cases that don’t require running on busy streets: office communications, public transportation announcements, and so on. But there is no telling whether they will come in 2026 or later.
