Redmi Clip Neo clip-on earbuds are here. They are inexpensive and have a physical button

Clip-on earbuds, which embrace the auricle and leave the ear canal free, have until now been the domain of Xiaomi’s more expensive Clip model. Along with the Redmi K100 phone, the Redmi Clip Neo earbuds debuted in China today, costing less than half. And instead of tapping, as you know from Xiaomi Clip, they are controlled by a physical button.

Each earbud weighs 5.3 grams, and it doesn’t matter which ear you put it on

As we wrote eight days ago, Redmi promised the earbuds by the end of October and kept its word. Each of them, according to Xiaomi, weighs only 5.3 grams and is held on the ear by a 0.6mm memory titanium arc coated with silicone.

It’s practical that the earbuds do not distinguish between left and right ears, so you can put them on without having to figure out which one goes where. This is a clever little detail you’ll appreciate, for example, in the dark. As soon as you take the earbuds off, content playback pauses.

Inside is a 12mm driver, control is handled by a button

It features a 12mm dynamic driver with two magnets, which, according to the manufacturer, is 40% louder than the single-magnet version. Bass easily escapes open-back earbuds, especially at low volumes, so Xiaomi compensates for this with software. Four equalizer presets are available, as well as a ten-band manual adjustment, and two microphones with AI noise cancellation are designed to improve calls.

On a single charge, the earbuds last 7 hours, and up to 32 hours with the case. Each earbud has a physical button: one press pauses music, two skip to the next track, three return to the previous one, and a long press calls the voice assistant, even on an iPhone according to Xiaomi. The earbuds connect to two devices simultaneously. However, finding lost earbuds and measuring ambient noise only work with Xiaomi phones and tablets.

Less than half the price of Xiaomi Clip, but without some advantages

The Redmi Clip Neo are sold in China on the Xiaomi website for approximately 1,300 CZK (399 yuan). The older Xiaomi Clip cost more than double at launch in China.

However, for the difference, you lose something. The more expensive model lasts 9 hours, 38 with the case, has IP57 rating, and supports the LHDC 5.0 codec. According to specifications, Clip Neo only support SBC and AAC, and Xiaomi does not mention water resistance at all. Whether Clip Neo will come to Europe is not yet clear. Xiaomi Clip are apparently coming to us, and Alza could sell them for 3,399 CZK.

Would you buy clip-on earbuds for approximately 1,300 CZK, even if they have shorter battery life?

Sources: Xiaomi, GSMArena