Samsung launched its Galaxy Buds Pro back in January 2021, and word has emerged of another true wireless in the Galaxy Buds 2.
It does appear likely that the Galaxy Buds 2 will emerge sometime this summer, taking Samsung’s prolific rate of true wireless launches to about four within the last 18 months. An APK teardown by Android Police of the Galaxy Live app found references to a Galaxy Buds2, so it’s a matter of when, not if, the Galaxy Buds 2 will launch.
The Galaxy Buds 2 appear be a sequel to the 2019 original, so we can anticipate a similar look and features, with a few upgrades in other areas that would bring them in line with Samsung’s recent earbuds.
The Galaxy Buds Pro were Samsung’s best true wireless, so hopefully Samsung can continue its upward trend. Here’s what you need to know about the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2.
When will the Galaxy Buds 2 be announced?
Given Samsung’s past form, the expectation is the Galaxy Buds 2 will be released towards the end of the summer, though according to 91 Mobiles they’re likely to be announced on June 28th at MWC 2021.
Samsung often holds an Unpacked event sometime around July/August. The Galaxy Buds Live were announced in early August 2020, so that time frame seems feasible to us.
Roland Quandt found out that Samsung has ramped up production for earbuds labelled SM-R177, which the online scuttlebutt suggests are the Galaxy Buds 2. He also added that they’ll be arriving “sooner rather than later.”
How much will Samsung upcoming wireless earbuds cost?
The Galaxy Buds Pro were Samsung’s most expensive true wireless at £220. It’s likely the new Galaxy Buds will be cheaper, but how much so is unknown.
SamMobile believes they carry a $170 price tag, their thinking 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 (SM-R190′).
Other rumours have pegged a price as low as $100. 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, and a leak of the earbuds spotted by 9to5Google would seem to confirm that those are the colour options that will be announced for the earbuds.
The leaks also show a pair of earbuds that look fairly similar to the original. There doesn’t appear to be a wing-tip/stabiliser fin as part of the earbud’s design, which surprises us a little. The appearance seems slightly different with a more glossy look to the earbuds.
If they are indeed cheaper than before, 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, but the rumours indicate that it’ll have some form of active noise reduction with two microphones integrated into the earbuds’ body.
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 – features such as the 360 Audio featuring Dolby Head Tracking that the Buds Pro support won’t make it to the Buds 2.
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 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.