Only 5 days in, the best fitness headphones of 2026 have already been announced — if they’ll stick the landing
The open earbuds that weren't open
After the absolute explosion of open earbuds that 2025 brought, the noise-uncancelling market segment of fitness headphones is expected to be a highly-contested one in 2026. But I would’ve thought it’d take more than five days for a company to deal out an absolute blinder of a hand.
As part of its CES 2026 line-up, Chinese tech company Anker has unveiled a new pair of open earbuds under its Soundcore line. However, unlike most pairs of open-ears, the Aerofit 2 Pro aren’t actually open-ears. Sort-of.
You see, these are hybrid headphones that can click between two different modes (well, technically five, but they're all on a spectrum between those two). If you want to hear what’s going on around you, you can use them in open-ear mode. If not, jump over to in-ear mode and you can listen to your music with ANC turned on. Whichever level you switch it to, dictates just how far into your ear the bud itself extends.
In short, Anker has solved the audio performance and volume issue many open-ears have, by letting you opt-out of the form factor on a whim. I can hear our list of the best workout headphones calling. It looks pretty simple: you can even do this mid-workout if you run from a busy to a quiet area, or find your gym gets busier during your session.
It sounds like a winning combination, but it’s impossible to say without actually testing them. So take this all with a pinch of salt until you see our review. And it also must be said, that this news story was written based on a briefing prior to CES – there might be even better options gracing the conference’s Las Vegas showroom floor. But I’m still keen to test out the Aerofit.
Specs-wise, these things have 11.8mm drivers and four mics. They weigh 10.4g each, so aren't the lightest open earbuds, with a hefty 88.2g case and IP55 water resistance. They connect via Bluetooth 6.1 and have 7-hour battery lives per bud (less if you use them in ANC mode).
The Soundcore Aerofit 2 Pro is set to launch in February 2026, for a price between $150 and $200; Anker hadn’t locked it down by the time of our briefing. They come in four colors: blue, white, black and purple.
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A busy Soundcore year
The Aerofit 2 Pro are only the headline-grabbing member of a busy new range of audio products, all unveiled at CES and coming soon.
The least revolutionary release is a tweaked model of the Sleep A30, sleep earbuds designed for tracking and improving your naps. The Sleep A30 Special is on sale from January 2026 from $199.99, and it adds an hour extra battery life as well as integration with the Calm app.
Next, the Soundcore Boom Go 3i is a new portable loudspeaker which is set to release in March for $65-$80. According to Anker it’s palm-sized and comes in four colors. It offers 15W sound, a 22-hour battery life, a IP68 rating and a digital display so you can see its battery life. In short, it’s a new rival to the pint-sized likes of the LG xBoom Go.
Since Anker recently lumped its Nebula projector family into the Soundcore range, we’ll touch on those too. The main new release in this line is the Nebula P1i Portable Projector, which is slated to release at some point in “early” 2026 for $369. This is a portable projector (as the name suggestions) which has two built-in flip-out speakers, so it should sound better than your average projector. It has Google TV built-in, projectors in 1080p and has a 0-12 degree tilt stand. Again, it’s a gadget we’ll need to test to see if it’s a novel new buy or a wasted opportunity.
These are the tip of the iceberg of Anker’s releases, with multiple chargers and power banks from its main line, loads of smart cameras and home kit from its Eufy family, and a portable generator from the Solix line that’s due to get an even bigger reveal later in January.
TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI.
And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

Tom Bedford joined TechRadar in early 2019 as a staff writer, and left the team as deputy phones editor in late 2022 to work for entertainment site (and TR sister-site) What To Watch. He continues to contribute on a freelance basis for several sections including phones, audio and fitness.
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