Following this Wednesday’s Unpacked event, Samsung hosted an intimate roundtable with the press to answer our most burning questions. It’s often the perfect opportunity to dive deeper into the minds of those responsible for industrial design decisions, software features, and overall product philosophy.
Also: Samsung just unveiled its new Galaxy Buds 3. Here are the features I’m most excited about
In a conversation with Patrick Chomet, Vice President and Head of Customer Experience, the Samsung executive was asked about the new Galaxy Buds 3 and 3 Pro — more specifically, how the headphones received online reaction because of their striking resemblance to Apple’s AirPods. The brave question elicited a brave answer.
“I don’t care,” Chomet initially responded. “My only answer is: Is it good for customers or not? Our job is to do good things for our customers.” From my first look and listen to the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, the design benefits are certainly there.
“The sound is even more amazing because we have more space to update the speaker and subwoofer,” Chomet praised, with the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro featuring dual amps (one for bass and one for treble) and support for frequency response up to 40 kHz, twice as much as the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro. Galaxy Buds 2 ProOverall, you get a pair of headphones that produce a fuller, more powerful sound and offer a wider spectrum for precise tuning.
The stem design, which Samsung calls “blades,” also gives the Galaxy Buds 3 series better directional audio — a feature that seamlessly switches between active noise cancellation and transparency mode depending on whether someone is talking to you or sirens are wailing down the street — thanks to the microphones on both earbuds now pointing closer to your mouth.
Perhaps more importantly, Chomet said, the design of the Galaxy Buds 3 series should make them more universally comfortable to wear — in some ways, acknowledging that Apple has nailed the ideal earbud form factor since the first-generation AirPods.
“People have very different ears and wear the earbuds differently. So, depending on very slight variations in how they wear them, the performance of the device can decrease,” Chomet says of the bulb-shaped design of previous Galaxy Buds models.
Also: Samsung’s new Galaxy Buds 3 look almost like Apple’s AirPods — and that’s a good thing
As someone who’s tested just about every pair of Samsung earbuds, including the bean-shaped Galaxy Buds Live and the original Gear IconX, comfort and fit are a long-standing issue that I’m glad the company is finally addressing — even if it does so at the cost of some initial public resistance.
The new Galaxy Buds aren’t exactly a carbon copy of the AirPods, but they do feature built-in LED strips that flash when they’re charging or in pairing mode. “We think there’s a future for gesture interactions, and LED light is an area where Samsung can innovate,” Chomet said.