Sony WF-1000XM5: Everything we know so far

Sony has a loyal fanbase when it comes to its headphones, especially the flagship XM range. There’s good news for wireless earbud enthusiasts as it looks like the WF-1000XM5 aren’t far away from launching. 

Each new release is highly anticipated so here’s everything we know so far about the WF-1000XM5 based on rumours, with our predictions and wishes added in.  

When will the Sony WF-1000XM5 be released? 

Sony has a history of launching new flagship headphones in the summer, with the earbuds getting a new model every two years (see below). Typically, it takes place in August but the most recent pair were launched a little earlier in June. 

There are no strong rumours on an exact launch date just yet, but we expect Sony to announce the earbuds within the next few months. The regular August slot seems like a thing of the past now. 

The WF-1000XM4 have an FCC listing with a short term confidentiality end date of 22 August but the WH-1000XM5 had a date of 8 August 2022, and yet we saw them officially announced on 12 May. 

• XM4 – June 2021 
• XM3 – August 2019 
• XM2 – August 2017 

How much will the Sony WF-1000XM5 cost? 

Sony tends to keep pricing pretty similar. However, the WF-1000XM4 did get a reasonable price hike compared to the WF-1000XM3 at £250/US$280 (up from £220/$230). 

I don’t think Sony will push the price up this year, but it is possible. If that does happen, I wouldn’t expect a rise as big as the last one. 

What are the Sony WF-1000XM5 specs and new features? 

It’s taken a while, but we finally have some details on the WF-1000XM5 wireless earbuds thanks to leaked images and details via The Walkman Blog. The site has leaked previous devices including the XM4 earbuds. 

Sadly we only have one image of the earbuds from one side and they have a shiny plastic design that may simply be due to them being a preproduction sample. 

The main takeaway here is that the earbuds are more compact than the WF-1000XM4. Well, “much more” according to the site and it looks like there’s no seam between the outter part and the main body, much like the LinkBuds S. 

The inner side appears to be contoured rather than flat, presumably in an attempt to make the earbuds more comfortable and secure. That inner side will still have a proximity sensor to enable automatic playback. 

There are limited other details to glean, apart from a tactile dot (purpose unknown), an outer-facing microphone and the fact that the WF-1000XM5 will once again have touch sensitive panels on the outside as you’d expect. 

We can also assume that they come with existing features such as active noise cancelling (ANC), Ambient Sound Control, DSEE Extreme, 360 Reality Audio and more. The FFC listing confirms Bluetooth 5.3 and Bluetooth LE (low energy) and while we’re hoping the earbuds also get Qualcomm aptX Lossless, Sony might just stick with its LDAC codec.

Images of the circuitry show the possibility of the earbuds moving to a dual-driver setup similar to the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2. This is based on the fact there are two contacts available, though the additional one could well be for something else, especially if the more compact design means there isn’t space for two drivers.

When it comes to the charging case, there some subtle design changes. Rumours of a square shape appear to be wrong, with Sony sticking to a more rounded pebble-like contour. 

You have to be more eagle eyed to spot that there are now two metal charging contact points inside where the earbuds go and that the LED is now at the front. 

Far more exciting is that the case is rated at 230mAh rather than 140mAh, so this indicates the case has a larger battery and should therefore be able to charge the earbuds up more times before running out (pending the size of the battery in the earbuds themselves). 

It looks like the case still has USB-C and wireless charging (a safe assumption) but charging speeds appear to be the same which is a shame.