Samsung makes some of the best wireless earbuds for Android smartphones. All the earbuds in the Galaxy Buds lineup are compact, well-built, reliable, and have good audio and call quality. The legendary Galaxy Buds+ was succeeded by the Galaxy Buds 2 a couple of years ago, bringing a more modern design and some nice-to-have features. Now, it’s time for the Galaxy Buds 3, and they could be launched later this year alongside the Galaxy Z Flip 5 and the Galaxy Z Fold 5.
There's nothing drastically wrong with the Galaxy Buds 2, and I’ve been using them ever since they were released. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't welcome a few upgrades, and among those upgrades, there are three in particular that I would love to see on the Galaxy Buds 3 (or whatever the next pair of Galaxy earbuds were called).
Longer battery life
The most important area where Samsung needs to improve is battery life. The Galaxy Buds 2 can last up to five hours on a single charge and up to 20 hours in total when combined with the case, which also has a battery that charges the earbuds when the case is closed. But that’s borderline average in this day and age, and I sometimes want more out of them. There are now cheaper wireless earbuds from rival brands that offer up to 8 hours of battery life on a single charge and up to 40 hours in total.
Samsung should aim for at least 7 hours of battery life on a single charge with the Galaxy Buds 3 so that they can last almost an entire workday. When combined with the charge that the case can provide before you have to reach for a charging cable, a total usage time of 30 hours should be more than satisfactory for most users.
A case with a beeper and UWB
People can misplace their wireless earbuds, and finding them isn’t easy. Adding speakers or a beeper to the case in which the earbuds reside most of the day is a great solution to that problem, and Apple has done it already without increasing the size of the new AirPods Pro. Samsung should also consider adding a beeper to its future Galaxy Buds.
And adding UWB (Ultra-wideband) to the case to guide you towards the misplaced earbuds would be like the cherry on top of the cake. Samsung has already released a UWB chip, and it wouldn’t be too hard to add it to the Galaxy Buds 3.
Improved call quality
I am pretty satisfied with the call quality of the Galaxy Buds 2, but nothing is perfect. This is one area where the AirPods truly shine, at least in the realm of wireless earbuds, and Samsung has a chance to bring something similar to the Android ecosystem.
In fact, I think Samsung has the capability to outdo Apple if the company puts in a little more effort. Quite a few people who own an Android phone have asked me if they should buy the AirPods for the better call quality, and while I haven't read any studies and my examples are purely based on real-life experience, I'd say Samsung would have a lot of takers for that one improvement alone.
In addition to everything mentioned above, Samsung could look at offering a manual equalizer option, a matte finish for the earbuds' case, and support for more wireless audio codecs like aptX, aptX HD, and LC3. However, it is more likely we will see the Samsung Seamless Codec HiFi, which is already supported by the Galaxy Buds 2 Pro, making it into the Galaxy Buds 2, so my wait for those other codecs could be a long one.
