Xiaomi is teasing clip-on style open-back headphones and, having tried its previous open-back headphones, there's a little feature that could make them must-buys.

Xiaomi shows its first open clip-on headphones
Unknown release date, presumably imminent
Previous Xiaomi open headphones had sound leak prevention technology

By 2025, it seemed like every tech company was feeling the need to release open-back headphones, and recently brands have been tripping over themselves by releasing clip-on style headphones, from Anker, Bose, and down the alphabet to (now) Xiaomi.

Chinese tech giant Xiaomi has shown off its first open-back headphones, sharing on social media platform Weibo a graphic of a half-open case, with the tagline “New Shape.” You can see enough earbuds included to suggest these are clip-on headphones (and they’re basically the only headphone form factor the brand hasn’t tested yet).

There’s not much more to know about the outbreaks yet, but Xiaomi is expected to launch a new smartphone sometime in May called the Xiaomi 17 Max. The headphones are likely to get some screen time at the launch event itself.

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The Xiaomi OpenWear Stereo Pro in a sunny outdoor environment.

(Image credit: future)

In 2025, Xiaomi launched the OpenWear Stereo Pro, a hook-style open-back headphone with a whopping five audio drivers. I tried them out and while I didn’t like the fit or audio quality, they had a unique and really useful feature.

One of the drivers was not for music, but was designed to reduce sound leakage. It basically worked as anti-noise cancellation; It wouldn’t stop you from hearing the people around you, but it would stop those people around you from listening. you.

Sound leakage is one of the big problems with open headphones. Since the drivers are not in your ear and the sound has to travel through the vacuum between the earbud and your ear, the audio will always be audible to those around you.

Don’t expect your guilty pleasure playlist to remain a secret if you listen to it with open headphones; my partner is constantly humming my music when I wear them. However, this didn’t happen with the Xiaomi and the controller did wonders for keeping my playlists private… well, private.

It’s hard to say whether Xiaomi will resurrect this technology for its clip-on headphones, and it’s certainly not guaranteed: these types of headphones have less space for the drivers at the root, compared to hook-style ones, since the driver is placed in the ear.

That said, the Shokz OpenDots One had two controllers, so there’s clearly room for a well-designed clip to fit on several. It’s simply a matter of whether Xiaomi decides it’s a good fit (so to speak).