At the moment it seems that every smartphone manufacturer is offering matching headphones for their phones. This assumes that you will want your gadgets to be made by the development department of the same company that made your phone.

With the FreeBuds 3, Huawei offers users true wireless earbuds with active noise cancellation. With a list price of £169.99, are they a valid alternative to Apple's AirPods To find out, we've been testing them and can now reveal all in our full review.

Design and comfort; Battery life; Call quality; Overall experience

No volume control; Missing a gesture to answer or reject a call; ANC not great; Some features exclusive to EMUI 10

The FreeBuds 3 are barely adequate in a category where it's increasingly easy to find something exceptional.

Decent battery life; Wireless charging & fast pairing

Iffy noise-cancelling; Uncomfortable to wear

Stable connection; Stays put even when exercising; Fast charging;

Sound doesn’t best in-ear buds; Middling bass; No iOS app;

FreeBuds 3 are the company's third iteration of Bluetooth powered earbuds and are unique as they come with an in-house designed Bluetooth and noise-canceling Kirin A1 chip. These are the first earbuds from Huawei with noise-canceling support.

At £169, the FreeBuds aren’t cheap, but they undercut the AirPod Pros (£249) and the Sony WF-1000XM3s (£219), the two most popular ANC bud options around. The FreeBuds also offer more for Android users than the similarly priced AirPod 2s (£159), which lack ANC. Snugger in-ears sound better when it comes to sound quality, isolation and noise-cancelling. Due to their open fit, though, the FreeBuds are less intrusive while still delivering clear sound, very good microphones and a great fit that stayed put whether we were walking or working out. If you don’t fancy jamming squishy buds into your ears but still want a bit of help drowning out the drone of your morning commute, provided you have an Android phone, the FreeBud 3s are the only way to go.

Stable connection; Stays put even when exercising; Fast charging;

Sound doesn’t best in-ear buds; Middling bass; No iOS app;

These are great alternatives to Airpods and may be more suited to those who cannot get on with In-ear solutions that are offered by competitors, a thumbs up for me!

Huawei phone owners may be keen to take advantage of the synergy the FreeBuds 3 offer. For everyone else, however, there’s no compelling reason to opt for the FreeBuds 3 over competing true wireless earbuds – much better-sounding efforts are available.

Decent vocal clarity; Very fast charging; Optimised for Huawei smartphones;

Inoffensive sound; ANC performance is meagre; Poor noise isolation; Best suited to Huawei smartphones due to quick pairing;

It makes sense to invest in FreeBuds 3 if you're a Huawei user who wants quick pairing with your phone. They're a good addition to the Huawei brand and a comfortable companion to your Android device.

Comfortable and stylish; Noise-cancelling technology; Wireless charging

Incompatible with iOS; Bass is lacking; Touch functions can be unresponsive

During IFA 2019 the major product announcement from Huawei wasn't a fancy new smartphone, but rather the Huawei FreeBuds 3 – its third generation of wireless earbuds. The wireless earbud market is becoming more crowded by the day, but Huawei thinks they have a winner here with very good sound...