People are going insane for Nothing’s new earbuds

Earlier this week, Nothing partnered with StockX to offer the first 100 models of the Nothing ear (1) earbuds. These were made available in an auction-style event that spread across two days, ending yesterday. The 100 highest bids would receive a limited-edition serialized and engraved version of the ear (1), but what ended up happening is pretty insane.

The highest bid, meaning the individual who would get the #1 engraving, won the auction with a whopping bid of $1,030. That would be enough to buy ten sets of Nothing earbuds once the ear (1)’s are finally released, but instead, they’re just going to get a limited edition version. The next highest bid came in at $850, which is still an astronomical amount to have the #2 engraved on the earbuds.

What makes this even more crazy is that we don’t even know for sure what the final design is going to look like. Instead, Nothing only shared what the charging case looks like, while revealing some of the features that are coming along with it.

Nothing is holding an event next week (July 27) where it will finally announce its first product. So far, we know that the ear (1)’s will feature a unique transparent case, active noise cancellation, up to 24 hours of battery life, and quick charging. Pricing for these new earbuds will come in at $99, which makes spending these astronomical amounts on limited-editions even more insane.

If Carl Pei learned anything while at OnePlus, it was how to offer a unique marketing strategy for product launches. OnePlus continues to use the trend of trickling information ahead of a device’s announcement, and Pei seems to be taking the same, but different, steps with Nothing.

Nothing’s ear (1) will have a steep hill to climb, even with the $99 price point. The OnePlus Buds Pro were just introduced with a sleek design and adaptive noise cancelling. Samsung is rumored to be launching the Galaxy Buds 2 at its upcoming Unpacked event. And Google’s Pixel Buds A-Series are already here, offering a pretty great experience for the same price as the Nothing earbuds.