Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro Review: Better Than AirPods!

Samsung’s sneaky best announcement might not have been a phone. Between the underwhelming base Galaxy S26 and all the attention on the S26 Ultra’s privacy screen, the new Galaxy Buds 4 and Buds 4 Pro landed pretty quietly.

I’ve spent the past couple of days using the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro, and I’ll cut right to it: these are incredible. I think they’re better than AirPods Pro.

Now, that comparison only gets you so far. Most people aren’t choosing between AirPods and Galaxy Buds independently of the phone they already own. But as a performance benchmark, AirPods Pro are useful. And at the same $250 price, Samsung’s earbuds clear that bar in several important ways.

Think of these as AirPods Pro for Android, and more specifically for the Samsung ecosystem. You get the great sound, active noise cancellation, transparency mode, quick pairing, and automatic device switching. Then Samsung adds some genuinely useful advantages of its own.

Samsung provided these earbuds for review.

A Better Case and Earbuds That Actually Stay Put

The new case is a compact, cube-like design with a tinted transparent lid. It closes with a very satisfying magnetic snap. That’s a tiny detail, but it’s something you interact with every time you use these, and Samsung got it right.

It’s a little taller than an AirPods case, but still comfortably pocketable. There’s wireless charging, a USB-C port on the back, and a pairing button. The earbuds are also easy to drop back into their charging slots once you get used to the orientation.

The earbuds themselves have been redesigned, too. And in huge breaking news: they stay in my ears.

That has honestly been one of the most impressive parts of using them. The default ear tips fit me well enough that I haven’t needed to change them. Samsung includes a smaller and a larger pair if you need a different fit, but the ones already installed worked for me.

From one angle, especially in white, these look a lot like AirPods. There are only so many ways to make something ear-shaped. Turn them around, though, and the differences become obvious: a more squared-off stem and a brushed metal back.

That square stem isn’t just a visual change. It makes the pinch and swipe controls easier to use. Other earbuds flatten a small section of a rounded stem to give your fingers somewhere to land. This shape feels pretty close to ideal for the job.

• Swipe up or down on either earbud: Adjust the volume.
• Squeeze once: Play or pause.
• Squeeze twice: Skip to the next track.
• Pinch and hold: Switch between active noise cancellation and ambient sound.

The earbuds carry an IP57 dust and water resistance rating, matching AirPods Pro. The case does not carry that protection, which is a flaw. But the rest of the physical design is really well sorted out.

Excellent Sound Without the Everyday Tradeoffs

Samsung has updated the drivers, with two in each earbud: a larger-area woofer and a tweeter, each with its own amplifier. Across a wide range of music and listening situations, the sound has been consistently great.

There’s also a full nine-band equalizer in Samsung’s settings, with presets and custom adjustments. I’ve gravitated toward the Dynamic preset. It lifts the bass and treble a little, giving you that V-shaped sound that feels punchy and fun. If that’s not your preference, you can dial it in yourself.

But the impressive thing isn’t just that they sound good. It’s that they sound this good while remaining easy, everyday earbuds.

Take the Sony WF-1000XM6 as a comparison. To me, those feel like earbuds designed with the sound-quality slider pushed as far as possible. They sound excellent, but that comes with tradeoffs: a larger case, larger earbuds, a fit I find less comfortable and less secure, and foam tips intended to create a tighter seal.

That’s a perfectly reasonable approach if your priority is sitting down, closing your eyes, and getting completely immersed in music.

Yet the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro sound every bit as good to me, without feeling like they require those same compromises. I can work out in them, travel with them, use them for a meeting or phone call, or sit back and focus on an album. They don’t feel specialized for just one of those situations.

Samsung’s earbuds have been getting steadily better over the years. Usually, those improvements haven’t been quite enough to get me this excited. This time, the combination of sound quality and much better noise cancellation makes the difference.

Noise Cancellation That Reaches the Top Tier

The rubber tips provide passive isolation, as any well-fitting pair of sealed earbuds should. What pushes these further is the active noise cancellation.

Samsung gives you five ANC strength levels. I’m not entirely sure we need five. I don’t hear a huge difference between the individual steps, and a simple low and high option might have done the job. I’ve mostly just left it at maximum.

At that setting, the noise cancellation is easily as strong as AirPods Pro, and I think it’s a little stronger. This is absolutely the level I’d be comfortable taking onto a flight.

It gets quiet enough that little details in music become easier to pick out. That’s the practical benefit: not simply less background noise, but more room to hear what you actually put the earbuds in for.

Ambient Sound Is Nearly as Impressive

Ambient mode, Samsung’s version of transparency mode, also has five levels. Here, I can hear the differences as I move the slider.

At maximum, I’d put it just shy of AirPods Pro’s transparency mode. Which is another way of saying it’s really, really good, and better than most earbuds I’ve tried regardless of price.

Outside sounds come through naturally. I can hear my own voice clearly, and I can hear someone speaking to me without everything feeling overly processed.

Automatic Switching for Conversations and Sirens

There are two optional features that make ambient mode more useful:

• Siren detection: If the microphones detect a siren or emergency vehicle sound while ANC is active, the earbuds can switch to ambient mode to help you hear it.
• Voice detection: When you start speaking, the earbuds can switch to ambient mode so you can have a quick conversation without touching the stems or removing them.

The siren feature is a useful idea for pedestrians or cyclists, though I’d treat it as an extra aid rather than a substitute for paying attention to your surroundings.

For conversations, the earbuds switch back to noise cancellation roughly five to ten seconds after you finish talking. The obvious example is being on a plane, listening to music, and briefly answering the flight attendant when snacks arrive.

Personally, I’m still the slightly awkward person who instinctively takes an earbud out. But if you’d rather leave them in and just start talking, the option is there.

Battery Life and Microphones: More Ordinary

Battery life is rated at six hours with ANC on and seven hours with it off. That’s around the industry standard, and longer than I’d usually want to wear earbuds continuously anyway.

The microphones are less exciting. There are six, the same number as the previous generation. I tested them over Bluetooth using the phone’s built-in voice recorder, and the result sounded pretty ordinary to me.

That’s not a huge criticism. A lot of wireless earbud microphones end up sounding fairly similar. Just don’t expect the microphone quality to deliver the same standout impression as the sound or noise cancellation.

The Samsung Ecosystem Features, Plus a Few Extras

The AirPods comparison keeps coming up because Samsung has built a very similar set of conveniences around these earbuds.

Within the Samsung ecosystem, they can switch between devices instantly in much the same way AirPods move between Apple devices. There’s also a familiar collection of features:

• 360-degree spatial audio with head tracking.
• Head gestures for calls: Nod to accept or shake your head to reject.
• In-ear detection: Automatically play or pause media.
• A finding feature: Locate the earbuds on a map.
• Live translation.

Then there are the things Samsung gives you that AirPods don’t.

There’s a gaming mode tucked into the Labs settings, designed to minimize audio delay. There’s that full nine-band equalizer, which offers much more direct control over how your music sounds. And there are three color options.

Three colors. That is two more than AirPods offer. I’m counting that as a win.

The important distinction is that these are Android earbuds with an especially strong Samsung ecosystem experience. The seamless Samsung-to-Samsung switching is part of that ecosystem advantage, not something to assume will work identically across every device.

Do Galaxy Buds 4 Pro Work With an iPhone?

Yes. I paired them with my iPhone, and they connect and work as regular Bluetooth earbuds.

The physical controls still work, too. You can swipe to change volume, squeeze to play or pause, and hold the stem to switch between noise cancellation and ambient sound.

What you lose is the customization available through Samsung’s app. The multiband EQ and some of the more advanced settings aren’t available on the iPhone.

So the hardware works, but the complete experience doesn’t come with it. That’s why being better than AirPods in some performance categories doesn’t automatically make these the best recommendation for an iPhone owner.

My frustration is with that ecosystem gap. I don’t expect Apple to give Galaxy Buds the same deeply integrated treatment it gives AirPods, just as a Garmin watch doesn’t get the same relationship with an iPhone as an Apple Watch. Great hardware alone doesn’t erase that advantage.

The Verdict: Samsung’s Sneaky Winners

The Galaxy Buds 4 Pro get an unusually large number of things right at once: secure fit, a compact charging case, intuitive controls, excellent sound, top-tier noise cancellation, and natural ambient audio.

They aren’t flawless. The case lacks the earbuds’ dust and water resistance rating, the microphones are nothing special, and iPhone owners miss out on important customization. Battery life is solid rather than exceptional.

But the overall package is what makes these special. They deliver the sound quality I’d want for focused listening without giving up the convenience I need from earbuds I take everywhere.

For Android, and especially for Samsung phones, these are the ones to beat right now. They’re my favorite wireless earbuds of 2026 so far. Sneaky winners.