‘There's definitely been a return to less technologically driven products’: Bose president Raza Haider talks releasing $99 wired earbuds with no app or AI, and why they're only here because his daughter thinks they’re cool

‘There's definitely something larger happening …and there's something oddly satisfying about this lovely silicone wire’

by · TechRadar

Features By Becky Scarrott Published 13 October 2026

(Image credit: Bose)

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  • Bose recently launched $99 / £99 'Noise Cancelling Wired Earbuds'
  • Also, Bose is 'happy to take credit for making open-ear mass market'
  • Bose's President of Premium Audio spoke to me about both developments

Last month was huge for Bose's earbuds output, thanks to the release of not one but two successors to the excellent Bose Ultra Open, a delightfully emo collab on the company's flagship cans and a set of wired, inexpensive earbuds that boast ANC, controlled by the inline remote.

So hang on, on the one hand we've got an evolution on a groundbreaking, clip-style, wire-free product Bose pioneered just over two years ago, (something President Raza Haider says he's "happy to take credit for — making open-ear mass market"). And on the other hand we have… wired earbuds like it's 2003?

Yes. And Bose President of Premium Audio, Raza Haider, is happy to talk about the nostalgia-driven technology trend many of us are seeing. After all, who could forget the various 'digital detox' resolves at the start of the year, compounded by the advent of the great privacy revolt concerning glasses, TVs and even wireless earbuds that want to know a little too much about us?

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I start off asking Haider simply, "Who knew wired earbuds would be so popular in 2026?"

"Right? I know", Haider laughs. "It was a funny story actually. Over the last three, four years, the team's done a really good job of being able to capture insights and turn them into products much faster than we historically were able to.

"So the idea [for the wired earbuds] actually came a year and a half ago, when I was dropping my daughter off at university. We saw them everywhere. And my daughter was like, 'You know, these are the coolest things ever.'

"And she's like, 'A year ago, we would have made fun of kids who had wired products, and now we all wear them.' So we came back and as a group back in the office, we're like, 'You know, we should do something about it.'

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