The Bose QC35 headphones finally have a successor on the way

The immensely popular Bose QuietComfort 35 wireless headphones will soon have a successor, according to FCC documents uncovered by WinFuture revealing the QC45. 

Originally released in 2015, the Bose QC35 were an immediate hit, offering previously unheard of levels of active noise cancellation (ANC), making them immensely popular to commuters and long-haul flyers looking to block out background noise.

A year later, the company released a modestly revised version – the Bose QuietComfort 35 ii – which added a Google Assistant button, but left the rest largely unchanged. Since then, Bose has introduced the more expensive Noise Cancelling Headphones 700, but has not sought to refresh the ever popular QuietComfort line. That is, it seems, until now.

There aren’t any huge revelations in the FCC filing, although the accompanying pictures suggest that Bose won’t be shaking things up with a radical new look. Indeed, at a glance the headphones look nearly identical to the current model, with the same shape, the same embossed logo on each cup and the large ‘L’ and ‘R’ letters on the inside to ensure people wear them the right way around.

The one obvious difference from the pictures is the adoption of USB-C for charging, which is a welcome if unsurprising change. It’s not that microUSB was an active choice when Bose introduced the QC35 – more than USB-C was still a few years from becoming the default charging port.

We would assume that most of the differences are on the inside with improved noise cancellation and sound quality, but both are of a pretty high standard already. Despite its age, the QC35 remains amongst the best wireless headphones available, even in 2021. As Ced Yuen wrote in his review: “The Bose QuietComfort 35 II’s biggest selling point is still the one promised in the name: these headphones are the quietest and most comfortable you can buy.”

While others have certainly closed the gap since then, it’s impressive that they still perform so well, and it means that the QC45 are certainly worth keeping an eye on. If they’re appearing in FCC listings, it hopefully means we won’t have to wait too long before we start to see them covering the ears of commuters everywhere.