Nothing teases the Ear (3), it's fourth-gen earbuds, because counting is hard

London-based tech company Nothing has teased its next product, and in typical Nothing fashion, it’s cryptic but very much intentional. This time, it’s about the next version of its flagship true wireless stereo (TWS) earbuds.

Across its social media, the company shared a teaser confirming that the Ear (3) is “coming soon.” The post includes a partial image of the earbuds with the name Ear (3) clearly visible. There’s no release date or specs yet, but knowing Nothing, a full launch likely isn’t far off.

On X (formerly Twitter), Nothing shared that the Ear (3) would be coming soon. Included in the post is a partial image of the device with the name Ear (3) visible. No release date or other information was provided in the post. Considering how Nothing tends to operate, the launch is probably not far off.

The name might be more interesting and perplexing than the teaser itself. The Ear (3) follows last year’s model, which was just called the “Nothing Ear.” That makes this the fourth generation of the company’s flagship earbuds, which is going to be appropriately named the—checks notes—Ear (3).

Let’s break it down. The company kicked things off with the Ear (1), followed by the Ear (2). Then in 2024, Nothing announced it would stop numbering products to “focus on the unique experience,” instead, launching the third-gen model as just “Nothing Ear.” Now, it’s back to numbers.

According to a post on Nothing’s community site, the company made the switch after receiving feedback from its user base. Apparently, the community prefers a clear, sequential naming system—and now they’ve got it.