Buttons are in now — at least if you’re not a designer, they are. On its Earbuds 1 (the first pair of over-ear headphones) are all sorts of doodads. Trackpads for track selection; a tic-tac-shaped wheel/button for volume and ANC; a pairing button (okay, this one’s boring, but it’s a button nonetheless). Even the recently released Phone 3 has a button on the back of the phone for doing some really useful stuff with its “Glyph Matrix,” like… playing a game of fetch. Whatever the use case, there’s nothing explicitly designed to bring back tactile input, and it looks like the upcoming EAR 3 wireless earbuds are also following in that trend.
Looks like. Stronger signal. Material difference.
Ear (3) pic.twitter.com/zm75sk7w6d
— Nothing (@noting) September 11, 2025
There’s a lot to unpack in this image of the 3 Earbuds 3, but the main thing that jumps out is the big, obvious “talk” button on the side of the charging case. It begs some obvious questions, like, What the hell does that mean? I wish I knew, but I like the mystery right now. Maybe it’s a way to activate the voice assistant on your phone? Maybe it initiates a call? Maybe there’s a little bug that really needs some 1-on-1 convo right now, and only you can help? It’s hard to say, but apparently, there are no plans for a future pair of wireless earbuds, and it’s not all about just listening to tunes.
There are also more buttons on the side of the case, in case you weren’t already in total tactile overload. What those buttons do is also anyone’s guess, but I’m hoping they’re at least a little more finely tuned than the ones on the headset 1. There’s no tinge to the multiple buttons (I like buttons), but I would have liked the execution to be a little more precise.
Ear (3), September 18. pic.twitter.com/7cyl9t59ie
— Carl Pei (@getpeid) September 11, 2025
Beyond the button-fest, there’s also the big Gen-Over-Gen design change I wrote about when the first teaser dropped. Now that we’ve got the full picture, I’m willing to say it: it looks pretty cool! I think it’s definitely a departure from the nothing-is-transparent aesthetic, but I’m okay with that as long as the buds still have a distinct vibe. Instead of a clean white aesthetic, it looks like nothing is going to go wrong with a sleek, metallic silver plastic on the charging case and a dash of the same silver stuff on the earcups. I don’t really know how I’ll feel about them until I get my hands on them in person, but the change looks promising and also unifies the design of the Earbuds 3 and Earbuds 1.
Despite having no idea what any of these buttons do, I’m just glad the lab hasn’t come up with anything new. The Ear and Ear A were nice wireless earbuds, but outside of looks, they didn’t move the needle much (okay, they were the first with chatgpt integration, but that’s about it). Maybe there won’t be a “talk” button either, but I always give nothing away for trying. Get weird with it; Why not!
