We’ve heard rumblings about Samsung’s next-gen flagship wireless earbuds before, but now an unreleased APK has just revealed a ton of details about which features Samsung is planning to include in the upcoming Galaxy Buds Pro.
The latest comes from an enterprising Reddit user (u/gamer0mega), who discovered info about new features and product renders from code in the unreleased Galaxy Buds Pro app plugin.
Based on product renders stored inside the Galaxy Buds Pro app, Samsung’s next wireless earbuds appear to use the same general design as the Galaxy Buds+, but with the more rounded, polished, curvy plastic panels it used on the Galaxy Buds Live. By using more traditional rubber or silicone ear tips, the Galaxy Buds Pro should deliver better passive noise isolation than the Galaxy Buds Live, and when combined with built-in active noise cancellation—as indicated by code from the pre-released APK—this should give the Galaxy Buds Pro ANC performance more in line with Apple’s AirPods Pro or Sony’s WF-1000XM3 than the semi-open design Samsung used on the Galaxy Buds Live.
The Galaxy Buds Pro will support a range of touch controls for activating ANC, pause/play, skipping tracks, and more, with the included 472 mAh charging case storing a healthy amount of electricity in reserve. The one potentially concerning spec is that based on screenshots from the app, it seems the Galaxy Buds Pro will only have 61 mAh batteries in each bud, which is basically the same size as the 60 mAh batteries used in the Galaxy Buds Live. In my review, I found that the Galaxy Buds Live generally lasted around 6 hours on a charge with ANC turned on, which isn’t bad (and slightly better than Apple’s claimed battery life of 4.5-5 hours of battery life for the AirPods Pro with ANC), but still, I was hoping for a tiny bit more.
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Other Galaxy Buds Pro features mentioned in the app include the ability to automatically lower the volume or turn on pass-through audio if the buds detect a nearby conversation, independent volume control for the left and right earbuds, and more settings for ANC and Samsung’s Ambient Voice mode.
Additionally, it seems Samsung may even be borrowing the Spatial Audio feature from the AirPods Pro with its new Spatial 3D Audio setting, which allows the Galaxy Buds Pro to dynamically change the way music or videos sound based on the way you move your head. The one caveat is that the APK indicates that the Spatial 3D Audio setting will only be available when the Galaxy Buds Pro is paired with a Samsung phone with OneUI running Android 11 or newer.
Finally, based on product renders in the app, it appears the Galaxy Buds Pro will be available in three colors: black, silver, and a light purple or lavender hue that people are expecting to be the new hero color for the Galaxy S21. Unfortunately, there’s no pricing info or an release date for the Galaxy Buds Pro listed in the APK, but with rumors strongly suggesting that Samsung is planning to release the Galaxy S21 in late January or early February, it’s a safe bet that the Galaxy Buds Pro will be available around that time frame, too.
