JBL Flip 7 levels up with AI Audio, Bluetooth 5.4, and IP68 durability
Tech site Gizmochina, for a start, reports that the Flip 7 has already launched in China, with pre-orders beginning on 24th February and an early-bird promotional price of 1,149 yuan. As for the rest of the world, details have leaked courtesy of a briefly published â and since pulled â press release on Business Wire, which revealed that the Flip 7 will be available to pre-order for $149 from 10th March, ahead of its release on 6th April. Thatâs a $20 premium over its predecessor for those keeping track, and thereâs no word on UK or Australian release date or pricing information at this time.
First Official Images of the JBL Charge 6 and Flip 7
It seems different versions of the app may display these products differently, or JBL has released another patch on the app, but some users are seeing images of the actual models, while others are seeing placeholder images. This may also be due to differences between the mobile operating system (Apple vs Android).This is what the JBL Portable app is showing to Android users:
And hereâs the first images of the Flip 7 and Charge 6.
Charge 6
Flip 7
The design shown is the same as that leaked several months ago from unofficial sources, with neither speaker straying too far from the design of their predecessor.
With that said, both speakers are definitely going to have changes to their multi-speaker pairing protocol. Both the Charge 6 and Flip 7 used PartyBoost, which has since been replaced with Auracast. Itâs unlikely that these speakers will have the ability to connect to PartyBoost and Auracast in the way that the Xtreme 4 can, which will disappoint a few people who frequently pair their collection of PartyBoost speakers together.
The arrival of these speakers on the app is a little surprising, as JBL usually announces flagship releases at CES, which took place in January. But much of the audio community has been waiting for the announcement, owed in part to third party leaks, and of course the length of time since the Flip 6 and Charge 5.
Reddit user kubawww1 also noted that there is now a placeholder page for the Flip 7 on JBLâs website, which doesnât return a true 404 error page. Instead, it seems we may soon have official listings for the Flip and Charge, suggesting a release date sooner than many expected after the let downs from CES.
