True Wireless Earbuds are the big craze in the market right now. As more and more manufacturers are removing the dedicated 3.5mm headphone jack from their smartphones, these tiny earbuds are gaining popularity.

Apple AirPods dominate this segment but there are a number of compelling options that are way cheaper than the Apple earbuds. Realme joins this group today with the launch of the new Realme Buds Air. This is the company’s first TWS earbuds in the market and we have managed to get a unit for review.

Realme Buds Air (1)

The Realme Buds Air is inspired by the Apple AirPods and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. A lot of people prefer the open ear design of the AirPods and Realme decided to stick with what has worked in the market so far. After all, the AirPods is the best selling TWS earbuds in the world right now.

The Realme Buds Air comes in a shiny and plastic-y design but that ensures that both the case and the earbuds are very light. You get three color options for the earbuds: White, Black, and a Realme Yellow shade. The yellow one will definitely stand out. But we’ve got the standard White color option, which, unsurprisingly, could be mistaken for the AirPods at first glance.

Realme Buds Air (13)

The case is square-ish and comes with just one ‘pairing’ button and an LED light above it. The LED light switches between Red and Green. It glows Red in pairing mode and Green when paired. Also, when the case is low on battery, it will glow Red. You get a USB-C port below to charge it or you can use the new-age wireless charging (up to 10W) to juice it up.

Realme Buds Air (9)

Once you pop open the case, you’ll find the two Airpod-esque earbuds, each featuring an oval speaker grill and an IR sensor for wear detection. This might be a good time to add that the earbuds feature wear detection (just like AirPods and other earbuds), so when you take out the buds from your ear, it’ll stop playing and vice versa.

The Realme Buds Air comes with features such as a custom R1 chip, Bluetooth 5.0, and a dedicated gaming mode that reduces latency by nearly 51 percent. You can control it via touch gestures like double-tap to play/pause, long press for google assistant, and long-pressing both earbuds simultaneously for activating the gaming mode. The earbuds pack two built-in microphones for dual-mic noise cancellation — one for capturing the human voice and the other for ambient sound, which are algorithmically synthesized to offset environmental noise and deliver clear conversation quality during calls.

Realme Buds Air (12)

The Realme earbuds are priced at Rs. 3,999 ($56) which is an extremely competitive price for its features. We have a lot to talk about the new Realme earbuds and you’ll hear more about it in detail in the next couple of days.