Don’t call them “stems” – the new Samsung Galaxy Buds3 series has “blades.” You can pinch the blades to control playback and swipe up and down to adjust volume. The new buds also come in redesigned cases and feature a host of AI features.
The Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Pro have 2-way speakers with 6.1mm planar tweeters and 10.5mm dynamic drivers, plus dual amps. The SSC codec has been updated to support double the sampling rate for enhanced sound quality.
The Pro has Active Noise Cancellation, of course, and its microphones are constantly monitoring the environment with features like Active Noise Control, Siren Detect and Voice Detect. The latter two will automatically pipe in ambient sound so that you can hear what is happening around you.
Additionally, a machine learning model will help out with noise coming from the other end during calls – it has been trained to recreate a natural-sounding voice, even if the audio comes from a noisy environment. With the Super-Wideband feature, the Buds can transmit voice at 16kHz, double what normal Bluetooth buds can manage.
The style of the Galaxy Buds3 Pro is complemented with the exclusive Blade Lights. This is a light strip that runs down the edge of the stem, sorry, the blade. You can use the Wearable app to customize the lighting style.
The Samsung Galaxy Buds3 are the more affordable option. They have 1-way dynamic drivers (11mm), while still offering Adaptive ANC and Adaptive EQ to adjust sound based on environmental factors. Also, these have an open design, which is more comfortable for extended wear (but the canal type design of the Pro offers more passive noise isolation).
The redesigned cases have transparent tops and the same battery capacity, 515mAh. However, the Pro buds have a slightly larger 53mAh battery in each bud and can last up to 6 hours with ANC enabled and a total of 26 hours with help from the case (or up to 7 hours/30 hours with ANC disabled). The Buds3 have 48mAh batteries in each bud and promise 5 hours of continuous listening and up to 24 hours total with ANC enabled (or 6 hours/30 hours with ANC off).
Both the vanilla and the Pro buds support Galaxy AI features like Interpreter mode – using Listening mode, you can listen to a lecture in a foreign language with your Galaxy phone and buds providing a translation to your native tongue.
Samsung used computational design for both buds to ensure a better, more comfortable fit. This time around, both Buds3 models have the same dust and water resistance – IP57 (up from IPX2 on the Buds2 and IPX7 on the Buds2 Pro). This is only for the buds and not the case, though. Anyway, the Buds3 series is part of Samsung’s sustainability initiative and features recycled plastic from discarded fishing nets and water barrels.
The Buds3 series goes on pre-order today and will be available from July 24. They come in two colors, Silver and White.
The Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Pro are priced at $250, while the vanilla Galaxy Buds3 are $180. For comparison, those prices are $30 higher than the Buds2 models.