Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro review: not everything's upgraded | Tech Radar

Overview

'Fantastic, and a disappointment': I love the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro, but they don't fix the problems of the past

Welcome improvements, but not everything's upgraded

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There's no denying that the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro are great earbuds: they sound incredible, the noise cancellation really works, they look classy yet understated, and knock it out the park with the array of features offered in the app. But recurring Galaxy Buds issues rear their heads again, including the relatively poor battery life, hard-to-switch tips and somewhat insecure fit — and you really do need a Samsung phone to get the best of them.

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Can earbuds be fantastic, and a disappointment, at the same time? Apparently so: the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro are some of the best earbuds I’ve ever tested, but the company has failed to address any of the issues which put buyers (myself included) off the Buds 3 Pro.

The latest Air Pods Pro rivals from Samsung were released alongside the Galaxy S26 Ultra and co., including a cheaper Galaxy Buds 4 with a few choice downgrades. The Korean company doesn’t just upgrade its audio line-up annually, seemingly waiting for tech to move on enough to justify a newer model. And the good news is, there’s no doubt that these 2026 earbuds prove themselves against their predecessors.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro sit among the best-sounding earbuds I’ve ever tested, with a driver upgrade letting them stack up against audiophile-designed premium options I’ve tried like the triple-driver Status Pro X and slightly-more-affordable Creative Aurvana Ace 3. You’re going to have to pay a lot to get better in-ear sounds, or opt for a wired pair.

The upgrade is in the woofer, designed for bass, which Samsung says is 20% bigger than before. This allows for meaty but controlled bass, allowing the buds to retain the warm sound of past models but without overshadowing mids and trebles.

You can also get incredibly high-quality sound thanks to Samsung’s own SSC Bluetooth standard, but only if you’re using a Galaxy phone. The fact that you need a handset from the company to unlock all the features is something we complained about in the past buds, and it’s just one of several issues from older models that hasn’t been addressed. As Tech Radar's audio editor wrote recently, if Samsung revived Milk Music so we never had to leave the Galaxy ecosystem, it might be a different story, in the way that Apple Music is the irrefutable bridge between Apple's Air Pods and its i Phone, but that isn't the case (so I do still have to mention it).

And that's not the only issue that's been carried over. Take, for example, the proprietary ear-tip locking system which saw the Buds 3 Pro delayed. It’s still here! Removing and replacing them is much more fiddly than it needs to be, and yanking them off runs the risk of tearing your tip in two – you also can’t use the vast majority of ‘standard’ ear-tips here, so if you’ve got a selection you’ve bought or leftovers from past earbuds you’ve owned, they’re basically landfill now. Please cough up more cash for Samsung-approved ones.

Compounding the problem is the fit: the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro didn’t stay in my ear especially well, and I know this is a problem that plagued 3 Pro users too. The tip material doesn’t offer enough friction to keep the buds in there when you’re on the go, and there’s a lack of any other stabilizing design features like a fin or balanced weighting, which could go some way in rectifying the problem.

Many of my Galaxy Buds 4 Pro gripes are smaller pain points that you’ll easily get used to, but the fit problem is a real shame: it was a complained-about point a year and a half ago on the older model, and it’s something that doesn’t get better over time.

Know this: I struggled with whether to list the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro with a 4-star or 4.5-star review rating, but I keep coming back to the excellent sound quality and ANC efficacy. If you've got a Samsung phone, you know they'll fit OK, you're good at charging your buds regularly and you're not fussed about switching the ear-tips, they're a 4.5-star product all day long. For the rest of the music-loving market? They're a solid 4…

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro (Black) at Amazon for $249.99

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro review: Price and release date

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro were unveiled on February 25, 2026, and put on sale on March 11. That’s the same as the phones they were announced alongside: the Galaxy S26 series.

To buy the new buds, you’ll have to shell out

249 / £219 / AU

399. That’s certainly a high price for earbuds in today's market, signalling them as premium options, though it’s worth noting that the previous model also launched at this price.

Let’s put that in context: the latest Air Pods Pro cost

249 / £219 / AU

429 so it’s a similar price in most places, but Samsung undercuts Apple in Australia. The standard Galaxy Buds 4 go for

179 / £159 / AU

299 so they’re naturally cheaper, but you’re getting an open-style bud for that price (think Apple's Air Pods 4).

Samsung doesn’t make as much of a song and dance about its ANC capabilities as, say, Bose (literally calling its headphones ‘Quiet Comfort’), but the good news is, these are still incredible at reducing background noise. I spent hours of testing near busy roads, while work was being done on my neighbors’ home, and on flights, and found them some of the most adept noise-removers I’ve used.

Even better, they have an ambient mode that’s actually good. It does what these modes should do: dampens your surroundings, but retains speech and other important nearby noises. It could be stronger in the noise cancellation department, letting in a little more than I’d always like, but it’s still much better than the vast majority of alternatives.

Battery life here is unchanged from the past models: 7 hours of ANC-off listening, with the case granting extra up to 30 hours. That’s not a particularly competitive battery life today, especially when you consider that the listening time is even less with ANC turned on: expect about 4-5 hours in the buds if you try to remove background noise, and even less if you use all the features on offer.

Using your smartphone, you can get a few more features from the Buds 4 Pro. You can change noise cancellation modes, toggle what the touch controls do, enable head gestures (nod or shake your head for incoming calls or to Bixby), and setup an on-bud assistant.

There’s also a nine-band equalizer with a custom mode or several presets, and several ways to customize your sound including 360 audio, loudness normalisation, adaptive listening and a hearing test. This latter is simpler than the alternatives offered by many rivals, and didn’t have an audible impact on music. I’m not convinced by this one.

Two other neat features are the ability to set up bespoke per-app settings that automatically apply, and the ability to tap into audio streams around you or broadcast them yourself (including to hearing aids). I can see business or accessibility benefits to both of these, and neither are perks I’m used to seeing in earbuds apps generally.

There’s a small handful of extra modes I would’ve liked to see, most glaringly any kind of low-latency mode to make gaming on a phone better. I also couldn’t find a way to enable multipoint pairing.

The earbuds use Bluetooth 6.1 for connectivity, which I don’t recall seeing in any earbuds before now. This is apparently meant to offer unparalleled connectivity, although I had a small handful of Bluetooth drop-outs in my testing time.

Eartips are hard to remove and don't stick in ear well

There’s no denying that Galaxy Buds Pro are Air Pods Pro-alikes, but with each successive generation Samsung blazes its own trail a little more, and that’s evident in the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro with their reimagined ‘blade’ look.

The buds now have a brushed-metal edge, which looks lovely and understated in the white model I tested, and pretty good in the black or pink versions too. Gone are the colorful light strips of the past-gen models, as well as the color coding so you know which bud goes in which side of the case.

What hasn’t gone, sadly, is Samsung’s proprietary ear-tip tech – this was a problem in the Buds 3 Pro, and it rears its ugly head here. The issues with this are twofold.

Firstly, it makes switching ear-tips a real pain, due to the company using its own locking mechanism. It’s hard to remove them without tearing them, something I avoided only by past mistakes (ripping the Buds 3 Pro’s tips), and reattaching them is incredibly fiddly. I imagine the third-party tip market is also greatly reduced thanks to the company eschewing the standard.

The second issue is the one that plagued my time with the Buds 4 Pro: they just didn’t stay in my ears very well. They’d slip now and then during testing, requiring readjusting, but the problem was worst when I went running: the things just wouldn’t stay in. This was despite testing the different in-box tip sizes, and at a guess I’d say the papery tip material just isn’t providing enough friction or purchase in the ear. I’d suggest buying replacements, but good luck finding them with the locking mechanisms – manufacturers actually sold clip-on ear fins for the Buds 3 Pro, and if equivalents are released for the new model, that’d be your best bet to stop these things getting jettisoned at every bump.

Other than those issues, the buds were comfortable to wear, even for long periods of time. They weigh about 5g each, which is about average for earbuds like these. One of the buds’ features also compensates the sound if you wear them wrong (ie, at bonkers angles like vertically or horizontally).

The buds have on-stem controls: slide up or down to control volume, pinch once or hold for various other options. You need to grip a little harder than on some alternative options I’ve used, so it took some getting used to, but eventually I found controlling the buds on-ear pretty effective.

One other element of the buds package that’s seen a change is the charging case, which now uses a clamshell-style look with a see-through case so you can peer at your buds (and check they’re in there, if you frequently forget to return them to the case. It was much easier to return the buds to this case than the last one, with less fiddling about to insert them into a small gap. Wireless charging is back too.

The case was a little blocky though, and not as ergonomic as the Buds 3 Pro’s, so felt a little more prominent in my pocket. The transparent section also shows scratches and fingerprints

The Galaxy Buds 4 Pro offer two drivers: a tweeter and woofer, and each has its own amplifier. This all means that high- and low- pitch sounds get their own TLC, and Samsung’s big selling point on these new buds is that the woofer is bigger than anything it’s used before, allowing for better control over bass.

There’s no denying that the Samsungs provide absolutely fantastic audio quality. The sound is energetic, with crackling mids and powerful treble. Pop songs like the conveniently-released Automatic Glow by The Hoosiers or Dharma Baby by Brett Dennen benefit from the unrivalled clarity and timbre the buds provide, especially songs with plenty of instruments that’d otherwise blur into one giant mush.

I personally spent most of my listening time in with the Dynamic EQ preset on, because I found it to exacerbate the Buds 4 Pro’s strengths and reduce their weakness, at least compared to the default preset.

The bass doesn’t overwhelm, as I initially feared when hearing about the upgrade, and instead it’s just better formed: it’s scooping, well-defined and better balanced with the rest of the sound. Even in bassy songs, like Proleter’s April Showers, bass walks arm-in-arm with the other instruments instead of overriding them, and in DENM’s Life’s 2 Short it succeeds in creating a real harmonising bass, as opposed to some deep rumble that sits alongside the rest of the song.

There’s a lovely sense of expanse through the soundstage here too, even if you don’t turn on the Spatial Audio setting, which I personally kept off for most of the testing. And the maximum volume is way higher than you’d ever need to go, which is another plus.

There’s one giant catch here: the incredible quality is only available on Samsung phones, thanks to their support for the company’s SSC codec (which has to be enabled in the buds’ settings). This allows for a sample rate of up to 24-bit/96k Hz, which means it'll handle lossless playback with ease, but means that non-Samsung users might not be able to enjoy the highest quality music they otherwise would. I spent a week of the testing period using a non-Samsung Android, and while the buds still sound great, they’re certainly better on a Galaxy.

The Achilles’ Heel of any top-tier pair of earbuds like the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro, is that there’s no way they offer you superb value for money.

You can get decent earbuds for literally a fraction of the price; I have options I love which cost a quarter of what these earbuds will set you back. Sure, they don’t sound or look as good, and miss out loads of the Samsung features, but you’re saving money – and getting options which will stay in your ears!

For music lovers who can’t quite afford ‘true’ audiophile options, and have a Samsung phone, perhaps there’s a world in which these are good-value options (compared to the four-figure alternatives). But at the very best, you’re getting what you pay for: this ain’t no bargain.

The battery life lets down an otherwise-impeccable suite of tools.

The upgraded look gives them a distinct appearance, but the devil's in the detail (and ear-tip).

These sound wonderful, especially if used alongside a Samsung phone.

These are top-end options, you can't expect total value for money.

You own a Samsung phone One of my biggest 'cons' doesn't affect you: pick these things up straight away and turn on the high-def audio transmission in the buds' app.

You need top-tier ANC These things are great at wiping out background sounds, and they show some rival buds I've tested recently just how it's done.

You like responsive touch controls I grew fond of how responsive the Buds 4 Pro's on-stem pinch controls work, as you get a lovely click to tell you your input was successful.

You need workout buds The unreliable fit make these a poor choice for runners, and they weren't the best at the gym either.

You listen for long stints With all the top-tier features enabled, the Buds 4 Pro will only go about half a working day on a single charge. Like a lot of music? Other buds last longer.

Air Pods Pro 3 Apple's Air Pods Pro are still some of the best wireless earbuds for i Phone owners, with fantastic ANC and a few unique features. Read our full Air Pods Pro 3 review

Status Audio Pro X If you want great-sounding earbuds and have money to burn, these Status options are another worthy pick, that'll work equally well on any phone. Read our full Status Audio Pro X review

Tested at home, on walks, on public transport, on travels, while running and at the gym

I used the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro for just under three weeks to write this review. For the most part, they were paired with a Galaxy S26 Ultra, but I also used them briefly with a Galaxy S25 Plus, and for a while before that a One Plus 15R. For a little while I also connected them to a cheap MP3 player.

I used a range of apps to test the buds. They played music from Spotify, Qobuz and internal storage, videos from You Tube, Now and Prime Video, and games from a pretty huge range of mobile titles. I also used them quite a bit just for their noise cancellation, with nothing playing.

The Buds 4 Pro are just the latest in a long line of earbuds I’ve used, including the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro and options from Samsung’s sub-brands like AKG, JBL, Bowers & Wilkins and Denon. I’ve also handled loads of phones and tablets from the company, as part of my 7+ years of testing gadgets.

Tom Bedford is a freelance contributor covering tech, entertainment and gaming. Beyond Tech Radar, he has bylines on sites including Games Radar, Digital Trends, Whatto Watch and BGR. From 2019 to 2022 he was on the Tech Radar team as the staff writer and then deputy editor for the mobile team.

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Key Takeaways

'Fantastic, and a disappointment': I love the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro, but they don't fix the problems of the past
Welcome improvements, but not everything's upgraded
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission
There's no denying that the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro are great earbuds: they sound incredible, the noise cancellation really works, they look classy yet understated, and knock it out the park with the array of features offered in the app
What are the best Air Pods to buy today