Samsung shrunk its Galaxy Buds 2 Pro Bluetooth earbuds while adding in impressive audio features
Samsung’s Galaxy Bud2 Pro is a surprisingly aggressive reimagining of the Buds line. Instead of jumping off from the Buds Pro design, these Bluetooth earbuds clearly started with the look and feel of the Galaxy Buds 2 and then took an Exacto blade to the body, carving away bits and pieces to accommodate better mics and sensors to improve fit, audio, and noise-canceling abilities. That Samsung did this while making the earbuds 15% smaller than the last Buds is impressive.
The result is an already impressive pair of buds that, in my brief hands-on, provided a great fit, notably good active noise cancellation (ANC), and rich audio.
There’s also the promise of great battery life (29 hours with the case and without using ANC).
I’m also happy they have IP7X for surviving a drop in water or splashes, though I didn’t get to test that out.
These aren’t, at $229.99, the cheapest buds, but they are feature-packed and look ready to take on the best Apple can offer in the Bluetooth earbud space.
Samsung unveiled its new Galaxy Buds 2 Pro on August 10 during its Unpacked event, where it also announced the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4, its Galaxy Watch 5, and Watch 5 Pro.
The Galaxy Buds 2 Pro costs $229.99 and is available in Graphite, White, and Bora Purple. It’s on pre-order now and arrives in stores on August 26.
Compared to the last Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro, the Buds 2 Pro is, at 5.5g, considerably lighter than the 6.3g Buds Pro.
Between the case and body, the Buds 2 Pro appears to be a hybrid between the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 and the original Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro. The bean-like design retains a tiny bit of the edginess of the last Pro, but with the softer hue and mostly curved design, it looks more like the Buds 2.
Even so, the cutouts for sensors and mics are much more significant and visible than on any previous Galaxy Bud version. This isn’t about looks, though, it’s about audio performance, especially Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), which can use all those mics to capture sound for calls and audio pass-through, as well as cut out all the ambient noise you don’t want to listen to.
The Buds 2 Pro comes pre-equipped with the middle-sized silicon ear tips, which worked well for my ears, but it’s easy enough to pop those off those silicon tips and substitute one of the other two size options.
