HTC and JBL announced a new premium audio product back when the former’s flagship handset – the HTC 10 – was unveiled earlier this year in April. At that time they did not provide any pricing or availability information about the JBL Reflect Aware C USB Type-C earbuds. Several months after the handset was released we are now being told how much JBL’s new premium earbuds cost and when they will be available for purchase. Too little, too late, wouldn’t you agree?
JBL Reflect Ware C earbuds are now available through HTC’s website and they have quite the price tag. These noise canceling earbuds will run you $199.99. They also feature an in-line remote with volume control as well as a microphone and are available in black and white colors.
What’s different about these earbuds is that they don’t have a standard 3.5mm jack so they are not that useful with all of your current devices. They connect to the smartphone via USB Type-C, a port that’s present on the HTC 10, as well as on a handful of other devices as well.
USB Type-C audio products are clearly the future as smartphone manufacturers ditch the 3.5mm headphone port to make their devices thinner and lighter, but the trend hasn’t quite caught on yet. In the coming year, you are bound to hear more announcements of new USB Type-C headphones and earbuds but it’s very unlikely that all of them will cost this much.