Sony WF-1000XM5 Leaked, Announcement soon? (Update 8)

I know a lot of people are waiting for the new WF-1000XM5, and your wait might soon be over according to a comment on the blog. An anonymous user posted that the announcement for the new WF-1000XM5 is June 5th to 9th, meaning this upcoming week.

The comment in question:

While I cannot find any retail listings yet, I suspect that major leakers will leak them soon enough if the announcement is this week. If the anonymous user wishes to send some photos and specs, I would appreciate that, otherwise we wait. And no, I have not received anything from Sony, pretty sure I am blacklisted with the content I post here.

The one photo I have is from Amazon and I had to enlarge it to see anything, this is why the Sony logo is all wonky (apologies). Below is a table where I found the photo (far right).

The specifications are rather general and nothing specific, pretty much identical to the current model. The battery life seems to be the same, if to be believed, this would be unfortunate. The table does provide the weight of the earbuds and case, which 5.9g per earbud and 39g for the case. This makes the WF-1000XM5 case 2g lighter, and each earbud 1.4g lighter compared to the WF-1000X4. Apart from that, the table confirms multipoint support. (weight calculation corrected, thanks anonymous email).

Ah thanks to Ed in the comments, it looks like the shiny plastic is here to stay for the final design. The touch sensor area does look matte though.

The new WF-1000XM5 look to be using the same tips as the WF-1000XM4 in the photo, so if we use that as a size reference, we can compare the size.

We can see there is a pretty big size difference. The fit and comfort should be greatly improved. My own WF-1000XM4 fit okay, but do bother me after an extended period of time. My WF-C700N, which are much smaller, fit a lot better and there is no discomfort after long periods of use.

That is it for now, if the announcement is this week, expect more leaks, which I will add to this post. So what do people think of the design? Will you be upgrading right away or would rather wait?

Of course for those that do not like the new design and want the buy the current model, it is on sale right now.

Update 8 - June 24th

According to Roland Quandt, the price of the WF-1000XM5 will be 319.99 Euros. I assume this is in Germany. This is very steep price and a jump of 39 Euros compared to the original price back in June 2021.

My guess is we could see a $299 USD price, with Canadian pricing perhaps at $449 CAD. If this turns out to be correct, then yikes. No way would any pair of earbuds be worth 300 USD or 450 CAD, especially if the battery life remains the same. Maybe the larger driver will have better sound and the ANC performance improved, but no way are these 2 things worth that amount of money.

So grab a cheap pair of WF-1000XM4 while you still can. Btw, for those in Canada, I am being told Costco is having a sale right now, $197.99 CAD in the warehouse. This is a huge discount, and a great price.

Update 7 - June 21st

So quick update, the WF-1000XM5 appeared on the Argos.co.uk support site, and will no doubt disappear as soon as I post this. This is an encouraging sign, we are closer to a release. If anyone from Sony wishes to send me a review unit, I am more than happy to test it and compare it to my WF-1000XM4. And the page has been removed, not a surprise.

How likely is this? No idea. I do not have any new materials or information. Either retailers are keeping this well under wraps because no other retail listings have leaked. Rather odd that we have no teaser. Both the LinkBuds and LinkBuds S got teasers. Same for the WH-1000XM5. So is the teaser coming tomorrow? or no? Drop your thoughts below. Update, I will not be posting anymore comments from the  anonymous commentator anymore.

Update 6 - June 18th

Supposedly the release is now this week (19th to 23rd). It was apparently postponed to due various factors, whatever that means. I find it odd that no retailers have accidentally leaked it yet, as in previous years. For the time being some import data again, from May, but it only appeared on the site I check a few days back.

Both black and silver models, maybe for testing and certification? Hopefully we will get an announcement this week. For those who will be picking one up, will buy right away or wait?

Update 5 - June 14th

Winfuture is reporting that the upcoming WF-1000XM5 will feature a 8.4mm driver, which Sony calls Dynamix Driver X. They also report that the WF-1000XM5 will have 2 proprietary processors, one for sure will be a Mediatek Bluetooth SoC, be it the current V1, or some updated V2 perhaps. Will be interesting what this second one will be.

Likewise they confirm the 3 mics which we saw in my original leak, from the translated article, it seems that all 3 mics might work for noise cancellation now, but not sure if this is the correct translation. It is unknown if the third mic on the WF-1000XM4 was also used for NC or just voice. As for the bone conduction sensors and Precise Voice Pickup technology, both of these are already present on the WF-1000XM4, so it makes sense they are also on the WF-1000XM5. The new earbuds have the same IPX4 certification as the old one model.

The case battery is apparently 500mAh, which is 20mAh less than the WF-1000XM4. With the full battery life identical to the old model, it would suggest the new WF-1000XM5 is more battery efficient. 

We should be getting close to a reveal, if there will be a teaser, it should be coming in the next week.

Update 4 - June 11th

While we wait for the WF-1000XM5 to be announced, here is an overview of what specifications we know so far:

• WF-1000XM5 will be lighter and more compact than the WF-1000XM4
• earbud weight will be 5.9g versus 7.3g, so 1.4g lighter
• case will be 2 grams lighter (39g vs 41g)
  
• Touch controls remain
  
• Wireless Qi charging supported
• Up to 24 hours of battery life (identical to WF-1000XM4)
• Quick recharge - 3min = 1 Hr playback, previously 5min = 1 Hr, so faster recharging
  
• Black and Platinum Silver colours
• Multipoint connection support
• Wearing detection
• Hi-res supported
  

From my earlier leak, we can deduce the following:

• There are 3 MEMS mics, 2 for noise cancellation and 1 for voice
• Most of the components are now part of a System in Package, like the LinkBuds S.
• Charging case will have pairing button
• Charging specifications are now 5 V = 230mAh, versus 5 V = 140mA

Unknown details are the following:

• Price, will it increase
• Will the case support PD USB?
• Codec support 
• Will LE Audio be supported or after firmware update?
• Will a Full recharge speed be increased?
• Driver size
• Battery capacity

So that is it for the moment, we now wait patiently. Btw I have updated my first post, at this moment I believe we only have one driver, with second contacts now most likely going to the battery.

Update 3 - June 9th:

So another update, another anonymous comment, seems like Sony will have press release rather than teaser, but it is Friday the 9th, and nothing so far. The WF-1000XM5 (YY2963) also appeared on the Wireless power consortium website, as reported by Mysmartprice.com. The certification does show the top of the charging case.

The certification reveals that the firmware version of the WF-1000XM5 is identical to the one in the WF-1000XM4 certification, 1.2.4 (I should mention this is the Qi version, not firmware of the earbuds). The WF-1000XM4 was registered on June 21st, 2021, so about 2-3 weeks after its announcement. With the WF-1000XM5 yet to be announced, it has already shown up on the website, so either a first, or it will disappear and appear after release. Adding a screen grab in case it gets removed.

The certification shows a maximum power of 2 watts, where as the WF-1000XM4 had 5 watts. The WF-1000XM4 uses a Renesas P9222-R chip which was able to provide up to 5W of power which lines up with the cert. The WF-1000XM5 may still use the same chip, but it could just be limited to 2 watts.

Update 2 - June 8th:

Well it is Thursday and still no update, but another anonymous comment says information will soon be out on Sony's Channels..

The anonymous user could always send some more information by email if they can, on the record, or off the record if they wish. Regardless, if the release is coming, perhaps we will see some kind of teaser or announcement for a live stream or event.

Update 1 - June 7th:

Thanks to winfuture.de and Roland Quandt, we have 2 new photos of the WF-1000XM5, with the silver model revealed finally revealed as well. We can now see the mesh up close, and it looks a bit different to the mesh on the LinkBuds S and WF-C700N.

The shinny plastic will take some getting used to for certain users, hopefully it will not be a fingerprint magnet. With these leaking, an announcement is coming, but is it still this week?

Source: https://winfuture.de

Source: https://winfuture.de

I was going to to post this earlier, but it slipped my mind. The support page for Sony's TVs has the WF-1000XM5 listed in the 2022 TV range. Funny enough, clicking the 2023 TV range list, shows no WF-1000XM5. Likewise the WF-C700N and WH-CH720N are also missing from the 2022 list, which is very odd, considering both new headsets are listed in the 2023 range. This could be a mistake and perhaps it should be in the 2023 list instead. Regardless, the leaks are slowly coming out and the Sony WF-1000XM5 should be announced soon. If Sony wishes to send me a review unit, by all means :D