Galaxy Buds 3 vs AirPods: An In-Depth Comparison of Stylish Earbuds

Samsung’s Galaxy Buds series are great wireless earbuds, especially if you have a Galaxy phone, laptop, or tablet. There’s now a new model at an affordable price: meet the Galaxy Buds 3.

Samsung unveiled the new Galaxy Buds 3 today at the company’s Unpacked event, alongside the more premium Galaxy Buds Pro . The design is a substantial departure from the look and feel of the Galaxy Buds 2, and now looks more like Apple AirPods. The earbuds have a short stem (presumably containing the battery and other hardware), and there’s no silicone ear tips surrounding the main speakers.

Samsung

The earbuds have active noise cancellation (ANC), an 11mm dynamic driver, and three microphones. Samsung says the Buds 3 can automatically adjust noise and sound levels with adaptive EQ and adaptive ANC. However, it’s unclear how well the ANC functionality will work with the more open design—Samsung tried a similar trick with the Galaxy Buds Live (also affectionally known as the “Galaxy Beans”) and it didn’t really work.

Samsung is also promising enhanced call quality on the Buds 3, with a new “Super-Wideband” feature. It boosts voice transmission from the typical 8kHz to 16kHz, and also relies on a “pre-trained model based on machine learning” to restore original call quality.

The charging case for the Buds 3 looks like the case for the AirPods and AirPods Pro, with a rounded rectangle shape that stores the earbuds in a vertical position. Samsung didn’t entirely copy Apple, though—the top case has a translucent design with the earbuds visible.

Samsung Galaxy Buds 3

The Galaxy Buds 3 are Samsung’s everyday earbuds, offering high-end features without the premium price tag of the Buds 3 Pro. They include 11mm dynamic drivers, active noise cancellation, and impressive battery life.

$180 at Samsung See at Verizon See at Amazon

You can buy the Galaxy Buds 3 for $180 from Samsung’s website, and the earbuds should show up at other retailers soon. That’s a bit of a high price, considering we don’t know how well the ANC will work. Apple’s AirPods are also usually less expensive—the third-gen AirPods are $140 right now and the second-gen model is $80 —there probably aren’t many people deciding between AirPods and Galaxy Buds, anyway.

Source: Samsung