The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro are here, folks! We loved the previous Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, but having launched in August 2022, they were really were due an upgrade. And as predicted, Samsung has delivered just that. It unveiled a brand new version of its flagship earbuds at its Unpacked event on July 10.
There are some significant improvements here, ranging from a striking new design, to an improved two-way speaker setup, to AI-enhanced noise cancellation and smart features. These could well mean the new Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro 3 are up there with the best earbuds of 2024, so here’s what you need to know.
You also can read our hands-on experience with all the other devices Samsung launched – here’s our Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 hands-on, here’s our Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 hands-on, our Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 hands-on, our Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra hands-on, and our Samsung Galaxy Ring hands-on.
Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro: price and release date
The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro were announced at Samsung Unpacked on 10 July 2024 for immediate preorders. Customers who buy via Samsung.com before 23 July will get a free protective clip case.
The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro have a selling price of $249 / £219 (there’s no official word on an Australian launch at this time).
That’s a small hike from before in the US: the Buds 2 Pro cost $229 / £219 / AU$349 at launch.
The more basic Samsung Galaxy Buds 3, also announced at Samsung Unpacked, had a price hike too: they’re $179 / £159, up from $150 / £140. Samsung’s most affordable Galaxy Buds, the Galaxy Buds FE, launched in 2023 at $99 / £99 / AU$199. The Pro buds are clearly the premium ones in terms of price and features.
For comparison, you’ll officially pay $249 / £229 / AU$399 for the AirPods Pro 2.
Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro: what’s new
The most striking new addition is the new design that adds AirPods-like sticks, along with ‘Blade Lights’. These are little LED strips down the stems of each earbud, designed to show their status, or even help you find them. The new sticks also enable you to control your earbuds by swiping up and down, or pinching them – all very much like AirPods Pro 2. Unlike the standard Buds 3, which sit just outside your ear canal, the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro are in-ear buds that sit in your ear canals for better acoustic isolation. That typically means better bass too.
The Galaxy Buds 3 Pro are built around dual amplifiers powering enhanced two-way drivers: one 10.5mm dynamic driver for mids and bass, and one 6.1mm planar driver for treble. The Buds 3 Pro support the usual Bluetooth codecs as well as Samsung Seamless Codec in both HiFi and UHQ versions, and that means they’re capable of hi-res streaming at up to 24-bit/96kHz when used with Samsung Galaxy S23 or later, Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 / Z Flip 5 or later, or Tab S9 series.
The active noise cancellation is enhanced here with ambient sound and voice detection, which can distinguish between human voices and other sounds. When you speak, it detects your voice and immediately switches into Ambient Mode while turning down the volume of whatever media you’ve been listening to. It also promises to do the same when other people are speaking to you.
There’s machine learning-based noise reduction for voice calls, and there’s a new Super Wideband call feature for better quality audio in calls – the buds promise to ‘recreate’ the callers voice for clearer speech. If you have a Galaxy Z Fold 6 or Galaxy Z Flip 6 you can use the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro with their Interpreter feature to receive real-time language translation in your ears, without you having to trigger anything – the promise is that they’ll detect the other language and just start translating.
Battery life here is a promised 6 hours / 26 hours with ANC on and 7 hours / 30 hours with ANC off. That’s not class leading by any means, but it is an improvement on the 5 / 18 hours with ANC enabled of the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro.
Galaxy Buds 3 Pro: news and rumors
Since late April 2024, the rumor mill’s really kicked into gear for the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro – including a June 25 leaked image of what appears to be the Buds 3 Pro’s case, with a transparent (decidedly Nothing-y lid) shared on the official Samsung forums (of all places!) by user AffinityNexa.
We’ve also got a June 27 leak, when notable industry leaker Evan Blass posted new high resolution photographs of two pairs of Galaxy Buds and two Galaxy Watch models on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter).
https://t.co/ruNJDdbGwxWhen Samsung’s own community is the place to leak products pic.twitter.com/0fCW8RHHYsJune 21, 2024
This ties in with a June 9 leaked image showing Galaxy earbuds with stems, making them look very similar to AirPods, plus a big leak on June 6, claiming to reveal sound upgrades, smarter ANC, and ‘blade lights‘, for both the Buds 3 Pro and the Buds 3. Fresh leaks suggest the rumored stems are real – and they’ll get ‘pinch’ functionality, similar to the AirPods 2 Pro and Nothing Ear (a), say.
Before this, on April 25, regulatory filings appeared, suggesting the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro charging case will have a rated capacity of 500mAh (a typical capacity of 515mAh). That’s a little disappointing, because it matches the case for the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro – 18 hours of use in total – so it looks as though battery life will be similar (no word yet on the batteries in the individual Galaxy Buds 3 Pro earbuds though).
Of course, none of this is official. What we can tell you is that Samsung launched the Samsung Galaxy Buds FE in October 2023, giving you an affordable option for your wireless earbuds (we’re expecting the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro to come with a more expensive price tag attached, mind).
We can also tell you about an upgrade to the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro: these earbuds can now handle live translation, courtesy of Galaxy AI and the brand new Galaxy S24, and that’s a feature that’s almost definitely going to be coming to the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro as well, when they appear.
We’ve also seen Samsung showing off a Galaxy Buds case with an OLED screen – but apparently this is just an experimental prototype, and not something we’re going to be seeing with the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro.
Galaxy Buds 3 Pro: what we want to see
It’s fair to say that Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro rumors and leaks are gaining momentum ahead of July 10. That goes for the standard Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 too, by the way – those may also put in an appearance, if the recent June leaks are anything to go on.
While we’re waiting for more from the rumor mill, we do have a few ideas about how Samsung could improve on the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro wireless earbuds, which, despite the only middling battery life, are very impressive already.
1. More interesting colors
Wireless earbuds are about more than the music these days: they’re fashion statements as well. The Galaxy Buds 2 Pro had the vaguely interesting bora purple color alongside the rather standard black and white options, but we think that the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro can do better. Samsung’s phones are colorful enough, so why not its wireless earbuds as well?
2. Better battery life
Of course, the perennial request with any new pair of wireless earbuds: better battery life. With active noise cancelling on, the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro only manage five hours between charges, which isn’t great, although that goes up to 18 hours with the case. Let’s hope Samsung can work some technological magic and extend that time further.
3. Improved AI
You can talk to Bixby through the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, but we think Samsung can do better than that, especially in the ChatGPT era (and now that Nothing’s won the ChatGPT race…)
Samsung’s latest phones are all packed with AI features, so we’re hoping that spills over to the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro next year – giving you a truly smart and capable AI assistant built right into your earbuds.
4. The same price
We don’t mind paying for quality, and we understand that getting the best technology working in such a small space is an expensive matter – but that said, we hope that Samsung manages to keep the price of the Galaxy Buds Pro series around the $229 / £219 / AU$349 mark. For comparison, you’ll pay $249 / £249 / AU$399 for the AirPods Pro 2.
5. Customizable noise cancelling
Better audio is always a given when it comes to a wishlist for new wireless earbuds, but we’re going to mention it. In particular, we’d like to see a bit more granularity in terms of the active noise cancelling on the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro – perhaps a selection of modes, as is the case with some rivals (see our Bose QuietComfort Earbuds 2 review for details).
