Huawei FreeClip 2 Review

Price

The Huawei FreeClip 2 were announced in December 2025 and are on sale from late January 2026, priced at £179.99 / €199. That’s exactly the same launch price as the first gen FreeClip, which has since dropped to £119.

As already mentioned, there are a host of other similarly-designed earbuds out there. That includes the 2025 Trusted Reviews Award-winning Shokz OpenDots One, which also sits at £179.99. I should also mention the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds, which is the most expensive in this relatively new open-ear earbud category. The Ultra Open launched at £250, but can now be found for less.

That Huawei’s price makes them a more expensive buy than the Soundcore AeroClip (£129) as well as the Earfun Clip (£79.99), Amazfit Up (£49.90) and Skullcandy 720 Open (£99.99).

Design

• Available in four different colours
• Now comes with smaller charging case
• Improved IP55 waterproof rating

The first big difference you’ll notice about the FreeClip 2 is that they now sit inside of a smaller, more compact case. The case for the first FreeClip wasn’t exactly hulking, but I can appreciate these do disappear more into your pocket.

What I didn’t love about this now smaller case was the initial challenge of remembering how to put the buds back into the case. It can make them a bit fiddly to quickly pack away.

These earbuds look pretty much identical to the first FreeClip. Huawei has added more colour options with blue, white, rose gold alongside the black version I tested. There’s the same glossy, almost ceramic look to them. If you opt for the blue or white versions, Huawei has added denim to the design.

There is a small drop in weight, with each earbud weighing 5.1g, down from 5.7g. I can’t say I felt the first FreeClip was cumbersome to wear, but going lighter while still offering a comfortable and lightweight clip-on fit can only be a good thing.

Wearing them is exactly the same as before. You have the Acoustic ball, which is positioned just in front of your ear, while the flexible C connector part links to what Huawei calls the comfort bean – this part sits behind your ear, and is now made from a new liquid silicone.

There’s essentially two ways to wear them on your ears. Positioning them more centrally creates the optimal open-ear profile. You can also move that acoustic ball to sit closer to the inner ear to improve sound isolation and create less of an open-ear feel.

There isn’t a designated left or right earbud, so it doesn’t matter which ear they sit on. They’ll adjust to make sure they’re streaming sound correctly. I’ve been happy with how secure they’ve felt in most scenarios. That includes sitting at a desk, at the gym, outside for runs and travelling on public transport. I have found they sit a bit better when wearing glasses and caps than the previous model.

Huawei retains controls built into the connector part of the buds. You can double and triple tap to play and pause audio, skip and back and forward a track or handle calls. There’s now the added ability to slide your fingers up and down the comfort bean to adjust volume.

My feelings haven’t massively changed about these connector-based controls. While it’s great they’re discreetly built into the earbud design, it always seems to take an extra tap or two to get them to do what you want. The volume controls work a lot better and reliably.

You do also have gesture controls, letting you nod and shake your head to answer or reject phone calls if you don’t want to fiddle around with the onboard controls. I think these are handy if you’re sitting down and not moving too energetically as they can be set off accidentally.

Another upgrade is provided in terms of durability. Huawei has pushed on from an IP54-rated design to an IP55 one. That gives it stronger protection against sweat and rain and gives the dainty buds a surprisingly tough exterior.

Features

• Huawei audio app
• Up to 38 hours battery life

Huawei now has a dedicated Audio app, available to both Android and iOS users. It’s here where you can make use of the EQ presets and the custom EQ. You’ll also find features to customise controls, relocate the buds if they go missing and also try out experimental features Huawei is working on. There was an adaptive volume feature in that section during my testing.

Battery life has improved on paper. There’s larger capacity batteries inside of each bud, which can deliver an extra hour off a single charge. That’s 9 hours instead of 8 hours on the FreeClip. The total battery including the charging case is up to 38 hours from 36 hours.

Hitting that maximum battery number is heavily dependent on listening volume, and even then, these aren’t the best battery numbers attached to a set of clip-on earbuds. You can comfortably get through a week, using them for 2-3 hours a day and dropping them back in the case to top the battery up.

The fast charge mode gets you 3 hours listening from a 10-minute charger if you forget to charge them. It might not give you the best battery, but it still manages to put in a more than satisfactory performance.

Sound Quality

• Air conduction-based open-ear sound
• Features dual-diaphragm dynamic drivers

Like the first version, the FreeClip 2 delivers sound using open-ear air conduction technology. In contrast to bone conduction, this open-ear approach works by placing speakers in close proximity to your ears. That lets you hear your audio while still being aware and not entirely closed off from your environment.

I found the sound quality on the FreeClip fine, but by no means the best I’ve experienced on  other open-ear, clip-on options. While I would say there are some improvements, I don’t think it’s enough to say these are the best-sounding clip-on earbuds.

On the positive front, they offer good volume, though do noticeably leak audio when you get a bit closer to maximum volume. This is pretty typical of open-ear earbuds and headphones in general. The open-ear listening experience is a perfectly fine one. I didn’t find that wind and nearby traffic cut horribly through audio, which is certainly helped by the volume you can achieve here.

There’s four EQ modes in total, promising to deliver balance, increased clarity and also bring vocals more to the forefront. I’ve been switching between these modes and what it manages to deliver is perfectly pleasant across the board, without necessarily dazzling in any particular department.

I still don’t think they’re the exceptionally clearest or cleanest-sounding earbuds I’ve tried. That was quite apparent on tracks like Ritual Union’s Little Dragon and Morcheeba’s The Sea. Making use of the custom EQ mode can and will improve things, if you’re willing to tinker. I’d hoped for something more effective with the EQ presets on offer.

I’d describe bass performance on the whole as a bit muddy. It’s not overbearing, just not quite on par with the tighter performance of rival buds. Massive Attack’s Teardrop and the xx’s Island showcased that not so impeccable bassy profile.

Mids aren’t buttery smooth either and while there’s some likeable graininess in the treble department, I was never blown away with what the FreeClip 2 mustered up. Especially when compared to what Shokz, Bose and Soundcore have to offer.

It’s a similar story when you enlist the onboard dual microphones to handle calls. There’s assistance from an AI processor to filter out unwanted noise, and make sure the person on the other end of the call comes out nice and clear. They’re fine to take calls with good clarity. The performance just isn’t particularly noteworthy.

Should you buy it?