Samsung's entry-level Galaxy Buds are due for a refresh, and if previous launch cycles are anything to go by, there's a good chance this could happen in 2024. We have reviewed various Galaxy Buds models through the years, but they have tended to struggle in the sound quality department compared with the best wireless earbuds from Sony, Apple and Bose. We can only hope that its next (third) generation of Galaxy Buds will be more competitive.
So what are we hoping for from the Galaxy Buds 3? Well, there's an increasing amount of chatter about them online, ranging from informed speculation to something closer to concrete evidence, so to help you get to grips with what's what, we have compiled a few predictions on pricing, launch date and specs. We have also drawn up a list of features and improvements we hope to see that would take these popular true wireless earbuds up a notch.
Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 release date rumours
The first two Galaxy Buds saw a two-year gap between new models, with the Galaxy Buds 2 launching in August 2021 and the original Galaxy Buds debuting in March 2019. (The more premium Galaxy Buds Pro and Pro 2 models, meanwhile, launched in 2021 and 2022 respectively.)
This launch cycle made us think that 2023 would, naturally, be the year we saw the Galaxy Buds 3 (and 3 Pro) break cover – it doesn't take a modern-day Bertrand Russell figure to work that out.
That, as you might have guessed, didn't end up happening, and then we expected to see the new buds launch at Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event in January where it announced the S24 phone lineup. It was a no-show.
That, essentially, makes the Galaxy Buds overdue and leaves us well within our rights to expect the third-gen model to arrive in the first half of this year. Samsung revealed a new Galaxy Buds prototype case with an OLED screen at CES 2024, so it certainly hasn't ditched the idea of bespoke buds. Perhaps this fancy case has been developed for the Galaxy Buds 3 (and/or 3 Pro) and is what is behind the 'delay'.
Still, we're waiting for a concrete announcement date for the Galaxy Buds 3.
Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 potential price
The Galaxy Buds 3 will hopefully keep up Samsung's track record of offering relatively affordable true wireless earbuds. The Galaxy Buds 2 and original Galaxy Buds both launched for £139 / $150 / AU$219, so fingers crossed that Samsung follows this trend for another generation and keeps prices static.
How does this stack up against other models? Apple's closest-priced rival, the AirPods 3, launched at £169 / $179 / AU$279 in October 2021 – which may not seem like a huge difference at first, but when you take into consideration that these AirPods don't include active noise cancelling (ANC) and the Galaxy Buds do, the Samsung pair has plenty going for them on paper.
It's worth noting, sadly, that the recent trend for electronics (and everything else besides) has been to put prices up a little to cover mounting costs resulting from the ongoing global financial crisis. While many manufacturers have worked to keep tags relatively stable, don't be surprised if Samsung is forced to raise prices just a little to keep up with those rising overheads.
Still, Samsung will likely remain keen to undercut its Apple rivals, so we'd expect the new Galaxy Buds to retail for less than the AirPods 3. (And the Buds Pro 3 to be less than the £249 / $249 / AU$399 AirPods Pro 2, at that.)
Samsung Galaxy Buds 3: our features and performance wishlist
Starting with what we like about the current Galaxy Buds 2, we're fond of the lightweight design and build quality of the buds, whose compact form factor was improved without sacrificing useful features such as Qi wireless charging.
A Samsung update made the Buds 2 more suitable for smaller ears too, and at just 5g per earbud, the less bulky design made for a more comfortable fit overall. We imagine the brand won't stray too far from this design, apart from perhaps a slew of new finishes that would presumably match those of the new Galaxy S24 phone. Sandstone Orange? Yes please. The only thing we'd like to change is for Samsung to ditch the glossy finish in favour of a matte outer coating, like the more sophisticated design of the Buds 2 Pro.
There were several aspects of the Buds 2's performance that we weren't so fond of, shall we say. Sound remains the number one priority, and there's certainly room for improvement on that front, with the second-gen buds suffering from excessive harshness through the treble and a lack of dynamic interest. Refining the sound to smooth out that overly-keen upper-end while giving a bit more in the rhythmic department would certainly help Samsung keep up with the best in show.
When you consider that class-leading ANC rivals such as the Sony WF-C700N produce a higher quality sound for less than £100 / $120 / AU$200, then that's a sign that Samsung needs to step up its game.
Greater customisation would be very welcome, too, especially with regard to the buds' overall functionality. We bemoaned the fact that the second-gen model allowed for presets to be selected but "you cannot create your own with a three-band stage". ANC remained inflexible, too, as while you could customise the ambient aware levels from ‘clear’ to ‘soft’, there was no way of tweaking the levels of noise cancellation any further than ‘on’ or ‘off’. That's arguably not quite enough in this age of noise-cancelling obsession.
This is the eternal desire for practically any chargeable wearable, but would it be too much to ask for Samsung to whack up the battery life a bit? This sort of thing doesn't tend to jump up hugely between generations, and you'll often simply have to pay more to get better numbers (although that's not a hard and fast rule). Still, a modest five hours from the buds (with ANC on) and 15 hours with the case does seem a tad miserly when you consider the super-affordable Sony WF-C500 manage 10 hours from the earbuds alone.
Building on sound performance, it would be nice to see some form of spatial audio, (or 360 audio, as Samsung calls it) on the Buds 3, in line with Apple's AirPods 3, which offers spatial audio on non-Pro level earbuds. We aren't expecting the 24-bit quality codec on these budget buds (that we imagine will remain with the flagship Galaxy Buds Pro line), but considering the rising popularity of '3D' audio in devices and music streaming services, we're sure Samsung could find a way to make Buds 3 a more immersive pair of earbuds.
What about AI? The new Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra smartphone is bursting with AI-enhanced features, while the more premium Galaxy Buds 3 Pro are expected to pack in some very fancy features courtesy of artificial intelligence (real-time phone translations, anyone?). While we'd love to see some of this tech trickle down to the standard Galaxy Buds line, Samsung will likely protect its premium line by segregating feature sets across the tiers.
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