Nothing sub-brand CMF embraces open-ear earbuds with Clip Pro

If you’ve ever worn regular earbuds for hours, you’ve probably run into the same problem: your ears start feeling sore, you can’t hear what’s happening around you, and before long you’re pulling one earbud out every few minutes to have a conversation. Open-ear earbuds are designed to solve exactly that problem, and now CMF is finally stepping into the category with its first pair.

The company has announced the CMF Clip Pro, its first open-ear earbuds. Unlike traditional in-ear earbuds that seal off your ear canal, these rest just outside your ears, letting you enjoy your music while still hearing what’s happening around you. That makes them especially appealing if you run outdoors, cycle through traffic, walk around a busy city, or simply want to stay aware of your surroundings without constantly removing an earbud.

Comfort is another area CMF is highlighting. Each earbud weighs just 6.5 grams and uses a flexible titanium C-shaped bridge that wraps around your ear instead of sitting inside it. Rather than pressing on one spot, the design spreads the weight across multiple contact points, which should make them easier to wear throughout a workday.

Of course, open-ear earbuds usually come with one major compromise: sound quality. Because they don’t create a seal inside your ear, bass often lacks the punch you’d get from traditional earbuds. CMF says it’s trying to overcome that with a 10.8mm dual-magnet dynamic driver and its new Ultra Bass Technology, which boosts low-end frequencies while reducing distortion. Whether that delivers the same satisfying bass as a traditional pair of earbuds is something we’ll have to judge after testing them ourselves, but it’s one of the biggest promises CMF is making here. The Clip Pro also supports LDAC, alongside AAC and SBC codecs, and carries Hi-Res Audio certification.

Listening to music is only half the experience, though. If you regularly use your earbuds for phone calls, the Clip Pro is built with that in mind as well. It features a four-microphone system paired with a  VPU to isolate your voice from background noise better. This should make conversations clearer whether you’re calling from a busy road or dealing with a gusty afternoon on your commute.

The Clip Pro also includes a Sound Seal feature that aims to keep your audio from spilling over to people nearby. You can fine-tune it in the Nothing X app, choosing whether it applies only to phone calls or to all your audio.

As for the battery life, CMF claims the Clip Pro can deliver up to ten hours of playback on a single charge, while the charging case extends total listening time to 32.5 hours. If you’re short on time, a 10-minute charge is said to provide up to four hours of playback.

One feature returning from CMF’s earlier earbuds is the Smart Dial, built right into the charging case. That means instead of reaching for your phone every time you want to tweak the volume, skip a song, answer a call, or pair the earbuds with a new device, you can do it directly from the case.

Beyond that, the earbuds include most of the features you’d expect in 2026, including Bluetooth 5.4, dual-device connection, Google Fast Pair, Microsoft Swift Pair, Low Latency Mode for gaming, IP54 dust and water resistance, and support for firmware updates and control customization through the Nothing X app.

The CMF Clip Pro will be available in Dark Grey, Light Grey, and Coral for $99 in the US. Open-ear earbuds have become increasingly popular over the past year. If CMF can deliver on its comfort and audio promises, the Clip Pro could be an affordable way for more people to see what all the hype is about.