GoKawiilLast month, I took two back-to-back long-haul flights in economy that took me overnight from Asia to the UK. On paper, it sounded like a nightmare, and I was dreading it. But in the end, I managed to get a total of 7 hours of sleep — 5 of them on the first flight, which departed at 2 a.m.
I credit Anker’s Soundcore Sleep A30 earbuds, which drowned out all of the cabin noise around me and were also comfy enough to sleep in. I’ve been searching for this magic combination for a while now, and I finally found it in the A30s.
On Thursday at IFA in Berlin, Anker announced an upgrade to this holy grail product — the Sleep Earbuds 4 and Sleep Earbuds 4 Pro. The company says it’s made the earbuds even smaller, minimizing the 3D ergonomic design for even cozier sleeping. The Sleep 4 Pro also comes with a touchscreen case, allowing you to set alarms, play relaxing sounds and check insights all without touching your phone.
A key feature that sets the Pro model apart from the base model is what Anker calls a “track-assess-adjustment system.” This uses the headphones’ built-in sensors to measure various factors, including PPG, heart rate and HRV and adjust the audio to find the best sleep sounds for you to have the most effective sleep.
The Earbuds 4 will be available in October, with the Earbuds 4 Pro following soon after in November — though pricing is not yet available.
Anker’s sleek sleep speaker would look at home on my bedside table.
Anker is further building out its sleep ecosystem with a pair of stylish bedside speakers, which it also announced at IFA. The SleepLab will lull you to sleep with soft music and a nightlight, whereas the SleepLap Pro uses radar to track your sleep, heart rate and breathing, then play tailored audio to help you fall asleep and stay asleep — all with no wearables required.
The speakers feature a warm, circular lamp that almost appears to float within a wider cream circle. It looks like a thoughtfully designed piece of kit that I know I’d be happy to have on my bedside table. Anker isn’t sharing pricing or availability at this stage, but says no phone or subscription is required.
Anker headphones and a hearing aid
In May, Anker announced its first neural-net compute-in-memory AI audio chip called Thus, which it’s now put into a slew of new audio products.
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