People waiting for Samsung’s recently announced $250 Galaxy Buds 3 Pro earbuds to hit stores will have to wait a little longer, as the tech giant said it is delaying shipments after detecting quality control issues.
The Korean tech giant did not describe the problem when it confirmed the delay on Friday.
“We take this matter very seriously and remain committed to maintaining the highest quality standards for our products,” Samsung representatives said in a statement. Samsung expects the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro to launch in late August.
According to Android AuthorityProblems include the device’s eartips potentially tearing.
The problems with Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 3 Pro aren’t the first time the company has faced quality control issues shortly before or after a product launch. Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 smartphones faced two rounds of recalls due to battery failures in 2016. Three years later, pre-launch issues with Samsung’s first foldable smartphone, the Galaxy Fold, forced the company to institute an “embarrassing” delay.
Samsung isn’t the only company that has struggled with quality control. Manufacturing and assembling millions of units of almost any product is a difficult task. In the tech world, and especially for mobile devices, the process has often required multiple iterations of hardware design and testing, as well as software design and testing. Companies like Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Facebook have spent billions of dollars on research and development over the years, including building labs and torture testing chambers for everything from image quality to radio interference to head shape and even button mashing. Typically, these efforts catch problems before a product hits the market, but that’s not always the case.
Samsung’s $180 Galaxy Buds 3 still appear on track to launch on July 24, according to the company’s online store, which is in line with Samsung’s plans to release its $1,900 Galaxy Z Fold 6 foldable tablet, $1,100 Galaxy Z Flip 6 foldable smartphone, $400 Galaxy Ring sensor, and smartwatches. The Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, meanwhile, will arrive on August 28, according to the company.
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