Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro: Premium ANC earbuds arrive at $199

Samsung has released a new set of wireless earbuds designed to take on Apple's premium offering, and the company is betting that a lower price tag and some thoughtful engineering will win over listeners who want high-end audio without the Apple premium. The Galaxy Buds Pro arrived on January 14, 2021, priced at $199—a deliberate undercut of the AirPods Pro's $249, yet a noticeable jump from Samsung's own previous model, the Galaxy Buds Live, which launched at $169.99 just five months earlier.

The speed of Samsung's product releases is striking. In less than a year, the company has cycled through three generations of true wireless earbuds, each one positioned slightly higher in the market. The Pro designation signals ambition: these are meant to sit at the top of Samsung's lineup and compete directly with Apple's most expensive earbuds. The question, then, is whether Samsung has justified the price increase or simply asked too much of consumers already fatigued by the company's relentless release schedule.

The physical design tells a story of refinement. The earbuds themselves are smaller and more compact than their predecessors, abandoning the bean-like shape of the Buds Live for something more traditionally earbud-shaped. Samsung redesigned the part that sits in the ear canal to be more convex, with vents that reduce pressure buildup—a detail that matters during long listening sessions. The charging case is similarly compact, small enough to fit in a pocket without creating an obvious bulge, though it's slightly thicker than the Buds Live case. The case itself feels solid, with no flex at the hinge, and it includes dual LED indicators: one on the front showing the case's battery level, another inside showing the earbuds' charge. Both USB-C and wireless charging are supported. The earbuds come in three colors—Phantom Black, Phantom Silver, and Phantom Violet—designed to match the new Galaxy S21 phones. They carry an IPX7 water resistance rating, the highest Samsung has yet applied to its earbuds, meaning they should survive heavy rain and intense workouts without issue.

Call quality received particular attention in the design. Each earpiece houses three microphones and an accelerometer, all working together to filter out unwanted noise during calls. One external microphone has a high signal-to-noise ratio, and Samsung has added mesh and chamber design elements meant to reduce wind noise—a practical touch for anyone who takes calls while moving. The company claims weather conditions will have minimal impact on call clarity, though this will require real-world testing.

The active noise cancellation is where Samsung has made its most significant leap. The Buds Pro improve on the ANC found in the Buds Live, and they add a layer of intelligence that could genuinely change how people use earbuds. Through the companion app, users can adjust the strength of noise cancellation from one to four levels, or they can let the earbuds decide automatically. The system detects when you're speaking and switches to ambient mode to let external sound through. If it hears a car passing while you're exercising, it adjusts automatically. If you move from a quiet room to a busy street, the noise cancellation ramps up. There's even a feature that detects your voice and vibration to confirm you're in conversation, automatically lowering music volume and bringing it back up when the conversation ends. This kind of contextual awareness—the earbuds thinking about what you're doing rather than just playing what you tell them to play—represents a meaningful step forward in how wireless earbuds can integrate into daily life.

Battery life is adequate if not exceptional. Samsung promises five hours of listening on a single charge, with the case providing an additional thirteen hours of playback (or twenty hours if you disable ANC). That's respectable but trails the Buds Plus, which managed eleven hours per charge. Fast charging helps offset this: five minutes of charging via USB-C yields an hour of playback. Connectivity relies on Bluetooth 5, and Samsung has optimized the earbuds for its own ecosystem. If you own multiple Galaxy devices, an Auto Switch feature lets the earbuds seamlessly jump between them—listening to music on a tablet, then automatically switching to a phone call on your handset, then back to the tablet when the call ends.

The audio itself impressed in early listening. Samsung equipped the Buds Pro with an 11mm woofer for low frequencies and a 6.5mm tweeter for highs, drawing design inspiration from Hi-Fi speakers. The result is balanced: treble and bass coexist without either dominating, and individual instruments remain distinct even in complex arrangements. Samsung's Galaxy Wear app lets users adjust the sound profile, adding extra bass if desired, though listeners seeking truly aggressive low-end might find the tuning conservative. A 360 Audio feature with Dolby Head Tracking aims to create immersive spatial sound, though it only works with Galaxy phones and tablets. There's also a Game Mode designed to reduce latency for mobile gaming on the S21.

What emerges from these early impressions is a product that feels genuinely thought through. The design is comfortable and practical. The noise cancellation is not just effective but intelligent. The audio is clean and well-balanced. The price undercuts Apple while still representing a premium. Yet Samsung's aggressive release cycle—three earbuds models in less than a year—raises a question about whether the company is innovating or simply fragmenting its own market. The Galaxy Buds Pro may be the best earbuds Samsung has made, but whether they're worth $199 depends on whether you value the incremental improvements enough to upgrade from the Buds Live, or whether you're willing to spend this much when Samsung will likely release something new in another five months.