Samsung launched its Galaxy Buds Pro back in January 2021, and word has emerged it is set to launch another true wireless in the Galaxy Buds 2.
Considering it takes some brands two years or more to launch a wireless earbud, Samsung are close to to launching four within the last 18 months. An APK teardown by Android Police of the Galaxy Live app found references to a Galaxy Buds2. so we know they are on the way, it’s a matter of when they’ll emerge.
The Galaxy Buds 2 would appear be a sequel to the original from 2019, so we can anticipate a similar look and base features, and likely an upgrade in a few other areas that would bring them in line with Samsung’s recent earbuds.
The Galaxy Buds Pro were Samsung’s best true wireless, so expectations are reasonably high that Samsung can continue its upward trend. Here’s what you need to know about the rumoured Samsung Galaxy Buds 2.
When will the Galaxy Buds 2 be announced?
Given Samsung’s past form in releasing multiple earbuds in a calendar year, the expectation is the Galaxy Buds 2 towards the end of the summer.
Given Samsung often holds an Unpacked event sometime around July/August, that would be as good a time as any to unveil it. The Galaxy Buds Live were announced in early August 2020, so that time frame would seem feasible to us.
Roland Quandt picked up on word that Samsung has ramped up production for earbuds labelled SM-R177, and scuttlebutt suggests that those are indeed the Galaxy Buds 2. He also added that they’ll be arriving “sooner rather than later.”
How much will Samsung upcoming wireless earbuds cost?
This aspect of the Galaxy Buds 2 we’re less certain of. The Galaxy Buds Pro were Samsung’s most expensive true wireless at £220. Given the ‘Pro’ moniker, you’d assume they’d sit at the top of Samsung’s wireless earbud options.
So it’s likely the new Galaxy Buds will be cheaper. How much so is still an unknown.
SamMobile believes they carry a $170 price tag, their thinking largely down to the reported SM-R177 model number, which would put them in the Galaxy Buds series (‘SM-R17x’) rather than the Galaxy Buds Pro series (SM-R190′).
Other rumours have pegged the earbuds as low as $100, which is quite the gulf in price. We’d imagine they’ll be similar to the original (£139).
What features will the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 have?
SamMobile reported that the Galaxy Buds sequel will arrive in four colours: black, white, purple, and green, continuing the series rather lively sense of colour.
Otherwise we’re relying very much on our own guesses with regards to where Samsung might go with these true wireless.
If they are indeed cheaper, that would mark them out as a more standard true wireless affair. We’d imagine no active noise cancellation, though given the Amazon Echo Buds 2 includes the feature for an affordable price, we wouldn’t rule out an appearance completely.
A sketch emerged online of what is reportedly the charging case, and it would appear to be bigger than before and that opens the possibility that battery life will be extended beyond the original’s 20-hour battery total (six hours in the earbuds).
All-in-all, the original Buds were quite basic, so we’d imagine improvements wouldn’t be hard to conjure up. The Galaxy Buds’ didn’t gain an IP resistance at all, so we expect that to be added for water and sweat resistance. Bluetooth is likely to be the 5.0 version, with support for SBC, AAC and perhaps even Samsung’s Scalable Audio codec.
We’d be surprised if wireless charging and fast-charging weren’t included, especially given Samsung’s PowerShare feature on their Galaxy smartphones We’d guess – and this is a guess on our part – that features such as the 360 Audio featuring Dolby Head Tracking that the Buds Pro support won’t make it to the Buds 2.
We also expect the design to adhere to the same foundations, with no radical departures on that front. The original came equipped with wing-tips for a more secure fit, and there’s no reason we can imagine why Samsung would omit that.
Sound quality would need to be improved, given its predecessor lacked the clearest tonal balance with the mid-range coming across as under-cooked.
That’s all we know (or think we know) about the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2. Given the rumours and speculation about these earbuds, we’re expecting them to be more affordable and to feature improvements over the original. We certainly believe we will be hearing more about them as July/August comes around.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.