I used to I love Samsung’s wireless earbuds. They come in all different shapes and sizes, and the designs seem to truly embrace the new realm of fully portable listening devices. I honestly don’t know why the brand changed course and started (badly) copying Apple with their third-generation wireless earbuds.
The new Galaxy Buds3 look (and mostly function) like a Cybertruck version of the standard AirPods, rather than an updated version of the Buds2, which I gave a 9/10 WIRED Recommends badge to a few years ago. They’re more expensive, less comfortable, and sound worse than the AirPods.
What’s especially puzzling isn’t Samsung’s attempt to copy Apple’s design, but the fact that the company makes extremely good earbuds in the first place: The Galaxy Buds3 sound worse, have fewer features, and are more expensive than their predecessors, and they’re nowhere near as good as the AirPods (which are also not very good).
Back to the box
Opening the box immediately causes embarrassment: The case mimics the rounded, rectangular case that comes with the AirPods Pro (8/10, WIRED Recommended), but with a clear plastic top that makes it look and feel cheap. The case works fine, and it allows for wireless and USB-C charging, so you can pop it on your doormat when you leave to make sure you don’t forget it.
The earbuds themselves look like AirPods that flew to Austin, Texas, with the same roughly rounded plastic top ear tip that morphs into a silvery triangle as it approaches the tip of an elephant’s trunk. (They come in white, but they look so much like Apple products that you’d probably mistake them if you saw someone wearing them.) There’s a bright red accent on the right earbud (and on the inside of the case) to indicate which earbud is which, which is certainly a better accent than Apple’s dull white, bland earbuds, but otherwise they look every bit like AirPods from a Cybertruck.
Photo: Parker Hall
They’re larger than standard AirPods and fiddly to insert — especially because of that aforementioned triangular design, which makes gripping the triangle and adjusting the ear tips much harder than gripping the round cylinders, and getting them in and out of your ears is a real dexterity challenge.
The controls are similar, using the same grip and swipe action as AirPods, but the shape of the earbuds meant I always found myself placing them in the wrong position in my ears to adjust the volume or change songs. What happened to the simple touch controls and surprisingly comfortable design of the Buds2?
I’m working nonstop
The main feature Samsung is touting with these new earbuds is that they’re AI-powered. You can use voice controls to change songs, adjust volume, take calls, and get real-time translations. While the voice controls work fine, Samsung’s AI-based translation isn’t that great. I asked my wife, who is fluent in Spanish (the language most likely to be used for this purpose in the U.S.), to speak a few sentences, and the app missed all the context and translated poorly. Enter Google Translate.
The app is packed with other useless features. For some reason, the headphones warn you if you bend your neck too far, and if you bend it long enough to hurt your neck, the headphones may or may not chirp cheerfully to solve the problem.
Then there’s the active noise cancellation. The headphones provide such a poor seal that it’s like having an air conditioner next to an open window. Sure, the ANC does all it can to filter out outside noise, but without a physical barrier (like ear tips) to block out the world (or install them through some kind of vent, like Apple does with the AirPods Pro, or Samsung did with the older Galaxy Buds), its capabilities are limited. That means you won’t get silence with these earbuds on, even with the ANC turned up to max and music blasting.
