Watch out Sonos and Bose - Sony teases 'exciting' headphone upgrade coming tomorrow

There aren’t many tech brands with a reputation as good as Sony’s when it comes to over-ear noise cancelling headphones, so the Japanese firm’s rivals will be looking over their shoulders tomorrow.

Sony has sent out teasers on social media, like the post on X below, with the time and date of 5pm BST on May 15, 2025. The image looks like it shows the cups and headband of a new set of over-ear headphones:

Sony also sent out emails to its newsletter subscribers with the image, saying:

“An exciting new product announcement from Sony – set a reminder to watch it live on YouTube!”

You can watch the announcement at 5pm UK time tomorrow on Sony's YouTube channel:

Though unconfirmed, this announcement is very likely to unveil the latest WH-1000XM series headphones, the successor to the WH-1000XM5 released in 2022 - if it is, we’ll be very surprised if Sony doesn’t name them the WH-1000XM6, as the sixth version.

Sonos, Bose, Apple and the rest will be a little worried. Though these firms Ace, QuietComfort, and AirPods Max products respectively challenge Sony’s XM series for best noise cancelling over-ear headphones sales, Sony is certainly a frontrunner. The company has waited three years to, potentially, update its flagship headphones, and we could see them launched tomorrow.

The WH-1000XM5 were widely praised by tech reviewers and customers alike for their superior noise cancelling powers and great sound quality. However some fans disliked the fact the headphones had no hinges on their arms to fold away for storage, unlike previous versions. If Sony does update these cans tomorrow, it’ll be interesting to see if they revert to a folding design.

I love using the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones for their all-round excellence, comfort and folding design, but also Bose’s clever Immersive Audio setting that can create spatial audio from any audio. We’ll have to wait and see if this Sony headphone launch brings any similar new chops to sway buyers away from the competition.