Nothing Ear headphones (1) are 50% more expensive than the launch price

We’re not only facing a chip shortage that’s been going on for a couple of years now, but also huge global inflation, and that’s been seen lately in higher prices for many new products. Apple has increased the price of pretty much all its products by 20% in Europe, Sony has increased the price of the PlayStation 5 by €50, and Quest 2 VR has increased by €100. Now, Nothing is about to price out, more than a year after launch, the Ear headphones (1), which offered one of the best “deals” in the wireless headphone market.

The company’s CEO says the Nothing Ear (1) price hike is due to increased production costs

Carl Pei, founder of Nothing, has announced that from 26 October, the Ear (1) headphones, launched last year at €99, will be made more expensive. And the new price is not just 20% higher, but 50% higher, at €149. The company’s CEO mentioned on his Twitter account that the new price hike is due to the increased production costs of late, without giving too many details.

He also says that the Nothing Ear(1) released last year is significantly different from the ones you can buy today, as they have been constantly improved through software updates. The company boasts 15 updates for these headphones, which rather suggests that they were released at an unfinished stage, rather, the software team probably needing more time than was offered before release.

When we started developing it, we only had 3 engineers. A year later, we have 185. During this time, the Ear (1) has received 15 firmware and tuning updates, and is a completely different product to when we launched it.

– Carl Pei (@getpeid) October 18, 2022

The company is also about to launch a new pair of headphones: Nothing Ear (stick), which appear to retain the design of the earphones, but significantly change the design of the charging box from a square design to a tube-shaped one. And those earphones will be officially announced on October 26. Rumor has it that the new headphones will cost just 99 euros, but after this price hike on the original model, it’s unclear if that price is still valid.