Sony is nearly finished developing its next flagship true wireless noise-canceling earphone, the Sony WF-1000XM5, and appears to be planning to release it sooner rather than later. The earphones in question are the successors to the Sony WF-1000XM4, which are some of the best wireless earphones on the market.

Some important information about the next earphones can be found in Sony's recently posted FCC filing. The application uses the hardware identification number "YY2963," which is only a few digits away from the Sony WF-1000XM4, which used the name "YY2948" when it was released in 2021.

The application, first discovered by The Walkman Blog (opens in new tab), tells us how soon Sony is likely to release the earphones (August 22 at the latest) and lists that the earphones will use the latest Bluetooth standard, Bluetooth 5.3 The company lists that it will.

The Walkman Blog also notes that the new earphones will use touch-capacitive controls on each bud, similar to the WF-1000XM4, and that the battery voltage will be 3.85V. Unfortunately, the filing does not specify battery life, but it appears to be about 8 hours for the WF-1000XM4 on a single charge and 16 hours or more in a case.

This is not the first time that Sony's announcement plans have been derailed by an FCC filing. In fact, this happens every year like clockwork.

Last year, a surprise announcement of the Sony WH-1000XM5 was ruined by an FCC filing. Before that, it happened with the Sony WF-1000XM4, Sony WH-1000XM4, WF-1000XM3, WH-1000XM3, all products.

At this point, one would be able to predict when the Sony WH-1000XM6 and Sony WF-1000XM6 would be released based on when the previous models were released.

Unfortunately, what will have to wait is more information on the earphones' specifications. Specifically, how long the battery will last, which wireless codecs they support, and most importantly, how Sony has improved the sound from the WF-1000XM4.

Since the Sony WF-1000XM4 was introduced in 2021, the Apple AirPods Pro 2 has emerged to threaten Sony's dominance. It would be great to see Sony's new earbuds pull a few tricks out of Apple's playbook by implementing spatial audio whenever the earbuds are worn, not just during Sony 360 Audio tracks.

Thankfully, given the dates listed in the application, it won't be long before we're waiting for them.