I used the Galaxy Buds Pro wireless earbuds for years, ever since I got them for free with my Galaxy S22+ pre-order. I must say they served me well. I had no issues with them — except I think touch controls are worthless, and nowadays, I'd much prefer an over-ear design. Regardless, these earbuds I used and cherished for years up until recently have just become utterly useless to me.
What happened? Well, to save you the suspense, I lost the Galaxy Buds Pro charging case. I don't know exactly when it happened, but evidently, I was wearing the earbuds when it did. The case probably slipped out of my pocket, and I couldn't feel it because I was in a rush. And I didn't hear the impact because I had my earbuds on — great Active Noise Cancellation, by the way.
Two pieces of useless high-tech e-waste
If you're unfamiliar with Galaxy Buds but heard about SmartThings, you might wonder why I haven't tried locating the Galaxy Buds Pro case using SmartThings Find. In short, it's because it doesn't work.
Galaxy Buds cases have no connectivity options that can help location tracking services. SmartThings Find is clever enough to show the location of the left and right earbuds independently, but it can't track the charging case unless the earbuds are inside.
Herein lies the bigger problem I'm now facing: Samsung doesn't sell Galaxy Buds charging cases separately through its online e-shop — although, more on that later. The only sure way to get a hold of a Galaxy Buds Pro case online is to buy it from a third party, assuming I can track one down.
And even though the earbuds don't have any wires, they don't really charge wirelessly. The earbuds themselves don't have wireless charging coils, even if the case does for its own charging needs. The Buds connect to the charging case through small pogo pins. It's an actual physical connection rather than a truly wireless one, which means there's no way to charge these loose earbuds using a standard wireless charging pad. Not without a case.
The other way to try to acquire a charging case for my loose Galaxy Buds is to go to an authorized service center and try my luck there. At least in some markets, Samsung appears to offer case replacement services for a fee. On this Australian support page, Samsung says it can help you with a Galaxy Buds Pro case in exchange for 140 Australian dollars. But the company says you need to go to a service center for pairing, suggesting not every pair of earbuds works with every other case. And again, this might not even be an option in some markets.
Searching online, I found that some Galaxy Buds users who have had similar issues and bought a case from third-party online retailers sellers could pair their earbuds. However, others said they could not. And at this point, I don't feel like taking any chances. Besides, the cost might not be worth it ($100 for a Buds Pro case seems steep), and the same goes with all the hassle of going to a service center rather than an actual shop to try to find a case for a pair of earbuds Samsung no longer has in stock. It sounds like a bit of a chore to me, but if you are in a similar situation, I suppose it's good to know you can try your luck at a Samsung service center.
As for me, I now own two perfectly functional wireless earbuds with dead batteries I cannot recharge. The two Galaxy Buds Pro earbuds sit helplessly on my desk, and I can't even call them paperweights because of how light they are.
Perhaps the best option I have left is to try to trade them in for a discount on a new pair of earbuds — assuming I can get a decent discount for a caseless pair. The Galaxy Buds 3 Pro earbuds are looking pretty good! But I doubt I'll get a good trade-in deal in my region.
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Although I can't blame Samsung for my mistake of losing the case, I'm just a little disappointed that the company doesn't sell charging cases separately without having to go to a service, where you may be out of luck anyway, depending on where you live and how old your earbuds are. I can only imagine how many other people may have found themselves in a similar situation where they looked helplessly at their earbuds without a way to get them to charge.
Then again, even if Samsung did sell cases separately, by now, the Galaxy Buds Pro are so old they're no longer on sale. So, I guess all I can say is that they had a good run. Goodbye Galaxy Buds Pro, and may your replacement earbuds or headphones be as good or better.
