A big year ahead? 6 pairs of wireless headphones and earbuds I'd love to see in 2026

Boy howdy, what a year 2025 was for wireless headphones. Sony looked to have the whole thing space sewn up as its Award-winning WH-1000XM6 earned serious acclaim after their summer release, all before Sennheiser came out of nowhere with the quite remarkably talented HDB 630 flagship cans. Who saw that coming? A twist worthy of the Royal Rumble.

The land of wireless earbuds was no less fertile. Bose reminded everyone of its credentials with the excellent QuietComfort Earbuds Ultra (2nd Gen), Apple sent its disciples into a frenzy by releasing the long-awaited AirPods Pro 3, while Sony dominated the cheaper side of the market with its outstanding WF-C510 (released in late 2024) and WF-C710N budget buds.

What can 2026 do to top that? I'm expecting next year to be a big one, mainly because wireless headphones are only growing in popularity, and practically every audio manufacturer you can think of is desperate for a piece of the action.

We can't guarantee that all of the prospective models below are set to materialise, but I have good reason to think that 2026 could be the biggest year yet for wire-free listeners everywhere.

Wireless headphones

Apple AirPods Max 2

Apple sure does like to take its time. It can often feel like an eternity between any iteration of the Californian company’s iconic white earbuds or range of attractive HomePod smart speakers (we’re still waiting for the HomePod 3), and the brand’s premium over-ears are no exception.

We first reviewed the original AirPods Max in 2020(!), and while we’ve had a semi-sequel in the shape of a USB-C-ready edition which landed in late 2024, a full-fat evolution is yet to materialise after more than five years of waiting.

The possibilities are endless for what a sequel could look like. Updated sound could see the Max 2 building on a five-star sonic legacy, while current rumours suggest that Adaptive Audio, improved ANC and even a new internal processor could all be on the cards.

We don’t know if and when the new AirPods Max 2nd Gen are set to launch, but we do know we can’t wait to try them out once they do.

Sony WH-CH720N (2nd Gen)

The Sony WH-CH720N have proved a big hit thanks to their provision of excellent ANC and generally outstanding value, making a sequel almost inevitable. Considering they launched back in September 2023, a second-gen update would follow Sony's general release schedule of unveiling new series additions once every two to three years.

Sony already demonstrated that it’s more than capable of improving upon class-leading excellence when it made the leap from the WH-1000XM5 to this year’s WH-1000XM6 Award-winners, so doing the same for its entry-level noise cancellers shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

There’s so much scope to make the second-gen WH-CH720N (we don’t have an official idea on the name yet) even better than the first, including a more dialled-in bass signature, more premium features and a few design tweaks. Did someone say a foldable sequel?

Sonos Ace (2nd Gen)

Just because we weren’t particularly effusive in our praise of the current Sonos Ace over-ears, that doesn’t mean we’re not keen to see a potential sequel land as early as 2026.

Sonos’ first foray into the world of wireless headphones wasn’t a resounding success to our ears, but with a few sonic and usability adjustments, it’s not hard to envisage a world in which the hypothetical Sonos Ace 2 cause considerable discomfort to the current class leaders.

Yes, the sound will need something of an overhaul – the current cans' sound is simply too bland and lacklustre to merit notable praise – but there’s clearly a market for a pair of Sonos headphones which slot effortlessly into the brand’s wider ecosystem.

Sonos is a big name with plenty of resources at its disposal, and you can bet your bottom dollar it will go all out to make sure that the second-gen pair of Ace avoid the pitfalls of the originals.

Wireless earbuds

Sony WF-1000XM6

We’d feel confident putting a reasonable sum of cash on Sony releasing a sequel to its Award-winning WF-1000XM5 flagship wireless earbuds. Yearly release cycles tend to alternate between over-ears and in-ears, so given that 2025 was the year of the WH-1000XM6’s launch, it’s only logical that 2026 will see the debut of their earbud-shaped counterparts.

This is a big one for Sony. The Technics EAH-AZ100 knocked the WF-1000XM5 off their perch as our pick as the best premium wireless earbuds in town, and that won’t be something which Sony takes lying down.

There’s scope for improvement for the five-star buds, from honing their sonic talents to providing a better intuitive fit and updating the sequel's feature set. Technics has set a high bar, but if anyone can reach it, it’s Sony.

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro

There are pretty concrete rumours circling that the latest additions to Samsung’s roster of earbuds could be on the way next year, and while such news might once have elicited little more than a shrug of the shoulders from the more cynical minded among us, we’re far more optimistic about seeing what Samsung can do with its flagship Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro.

Why? Mainly because the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro were such a pleasant surprise. They weren’t perfect, sure, but when paired with a suitably premium Galaxy source device to get the most out of the Samsung’s SSC UHQ hi-res codec for transmission of file rates up to 24-bit/96kHz, the third-gen buds started to make a whole lot of sense.

Sounding clean, spacious and impressively detailed when using that SSC UHQ codec, the Buds 3 Pro were our clearest indication yet that Samsung could mix it with the biggest boys on the block. If the 4 Pro can take up that mantle and run with it, a final fifth star could well be in the offing.

New Technics AZ40/AZ80 earbuds

Do you know part of the reason why we admired the flagship Technics EAH-AZ100 so much? They demonstrated progression. Technics learned from the lessons of its previous efforts to make a five-star pair of earbuds and implemented them in the AZ100, resulting in an outstanding effort which melded clarity and insight with class-leading musicality.

Now it's time to do the same for some of the brand's other ranges. We haven't had a pair of mid-range Technics buds for a while, so 2026 could be the perfect time to see the four-star EAH-AZ40M2 get the same treatment as the 2025 What Hi-Fi? Award-winning EAH-AZ100.

The more premium Technics EAH-AZ80 could also receive a sequel, and given the potential those sparklingly clear, detailed buds exhibited, a follow-up effort could cause serious problems to the likes of Sony, Bose and Sennheiser.

MORE:

Read our five-star Sennheiser HDB 630 review

Check out our guide to the best wireless headphones we've tested and rated

Best wireless earbuds 2025: top pairs tested by our reviewers