At today's Galaxy Unpacked event, Samsung unveiled two new wireless earbuds: Galaxy Buds 3 and Galaxy Buds 3 Pro. The Galaxy Buds 3 are the cheaper of the two but offer most of the crucial features, including a new design, improved call quality, higher-resolution audio, and better durability.
The Galaxy Buds 3 will compete with regular AirPods. You can check their pricing and availability details here.
Galaxy Buds 3 feature a new design and better audio
The Galaxy Buds 3 are a massive departure from the design seen on previous Galaxy Buds. They have an AirPods-like stem design, which brings the microphones closer to the user's mouth and improves call quality.
Samsung has introduced another significant design change. The Galaxy Buds 3 don't have the ear tips seen on most previous Galaxy Buds. This means the earbuds sit just outside the ear canal. While they don't offer a tight seal, they would provide better comfort to those who don't like earbuds to seal their ear canals completely.
The case is also very different, featuring a transparent lid and a pairing button at the bottom. It is still compact, though. Watch them in our hands-on video below.
The earbuds have an IP57 rating for proper dust and water resistance. They come in two colors: Silver and White.
Audio drivers and connectivity
Samsung has equipped the Galaxy Buds 3 with 11mm dynamic drivers, a change from the dual-driver setup of the Galaxy Buds 2. It has Bluetooth 5.4, LE Audio, and Auracast.
They also use a brand-new audio codec called Samsung Seamless Codec Ultra High Quality (SSC UHQ) for 24-bit 96KHz audio, offering near-lossless audio when paired with compatible Galaxy phones and tablets. They can also use AAC and SBC codecs on non-Samsung phones.
Finally, Samsung is offering a custom equalizer via the Galaxy Wearable app to tune the audio according to your preferences. There is also an Adaptive Equalizer, which tunes the audio according to the music.
Galaxy AI for improved call quality and ANC
Besides closer microphones, the Galaxy Buds 3 also features Machine Learning (ML) and Super-Wideband (SWB) technology for clearer calls. The earbuds can record audio in a wider bandwidth, resulting in natural-sounding audio during voice calls. AI is used to reconstruct your voice when it is lost in noisy environments.
Hopefully, Samsung's newer wireless earbuds will be able to match or surpass AirPods in terms of voice call quality.
The Galaxy Buds 3 also feature Galaxy AI, offering real-time language translation when paired with a compatible Galaxy smartphone or tablet. With the Interpreter in Listening Mode feature, audio of the language translated in real-time is passed through to the earbuds.
AI is also used to enhance Active Noise Cancellation (ANC).
The Galaxy Buds 3 can automatically switch between your Galaxy laptop, phone, and tablet, depending on which device you are actively using. You can find them when they are lost or stolen using the Samsung Find app.
New gestures are more reliable
Thanks to the new design, control gestures have also improved. You can pinch the stem of the Galaxy Buds 3 to pause/play music, go back to the previous track, or skip to the next one. You can use swipe gestures to increase or decrease the volume. You can also control music playback using voice commands.
The Galaxy Buds 3 also have short-wave infrared (SWIR) sensors, so music playback can start or stop automatically, depending on whether or not you are wearing the earbuds.
Battery life and charging
The charging case has a USB Type-C port and Qi wireless charging, and it supports fast charging. Each earbud has a 48mAh battery, while their case has a 515mAh battery.
The earbuds themselves can last up to 5 hours (6 hours with ANC turned off) on a single charge, while the case offers up to a total of 24 hours (30 hours with ANC turned off) of music playback.
