Nothing’s next earbuds will get back on a familiar track

London, England-based Nothing kicked off its journey into audio tech with the Nothing Ear (1) in July of 2021. Since then, not only has it released subsequent models, it has also expanded into the headphone market.

Under its Ear line, the unconventional smartphone maker followed up with the second-gen Ear (2) in 2023 and simply the Nothing Ear in 2024.

The change in numerical naming was a confusing one, especially since the company didn’t make a similar change for its smartphone line. At the time, it said that the change was “to center the focus around the product and the unique experience it delivers for each user.” That change, however, doesn’t seem to be sticking around.

In typical Nothing fashion, the company teased its next-gen Nothing Ear on X (Twitter), and it’s all but confirmed that Nothing is going back to the numerical earbud naming convention.

Nothing Ear (4) ❌ Nothing Ear (3) ✅

It’s a short and sweet tweet. “Ear (3). Soon,” is all it says, paired with a partial image of the upcoming product. It does not highlight any other information, though judging by the company’s established pattern of drip-feeding leaks via socials, the Ear (3) shouldn’t be too far off from an official launch.

Technically, the upcoming product is a 4th-gen one, so it should technically be named Nothing Ear (4). Regardless, after the confusion with the new naming scheme last year, we’re just happy to see the company return to its simpler chronological naming scheme.

As pointed out by the folks over at Android Authority, a short Nothing community post offers more context about the return to numbered naming directly from Andrew Freshwater, Nothing’s Head of Global Smart Products Marketing.