Microsoft has unveiled a new member of the Surface family: the Surface Headphones.
The rather surprising addition to the Surface range is a set of noise-cancelling Bluetooth headphones. They’re large, over-ear headphones with soft, comfortable ear cups. Each ear cup has a spinning dial: one to control the volume, and the other to control the level of noise cancellation.
The headphones know when they’re on your head and automatically pause your music when you take them off. And they contain four microphones to pick up clear audio for talking to Cortana or making phone calls. Microsoft estimates they’ll last 15 hours on a charge and take less than two hours to recharge over their USB Type-C connector.
The headphones will be available to buy later this year. We’ve heard the price will be around $350, putting them in the same ballpark as Bose’s noise-cancelling headphones. Bose’s QuietComfort 35 wireless II headphones, also at $350, look like direct competitors: they too contain microphones designed to give commands to Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant.
