Samsung have announced the next generation of Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 wireless earbuds. They succeed the original Samsung Galaxy Buds and Buds+ devices. They come with improved audio and microphone quality, and they’re also slightly redesigned to fit your ears better and accommodate some of the new features that are built-in. The case has also been completely redesigned to fit in line with the rest of the Galaxy Buds lineup. In this post, we’ll put the Galaxy Buds 2 vs Apple AirPods Pro side-by-side to see how they compare.

At the Galaxy Unpacked event on August 11th, Samsung also unveiled the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G, the Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G, and the brand new Galaxy Watch 4 series. The new Galaxy Watch 4 devices come with the new and improved One UI Watch, based on the Wear OS 3.0 unified platform and packs a lot of new and great features. We’ve compiled a list of the best Galaxy Watch 4 Bands for you, and also compared it with Apple’s latest Apple Watch 6 smartwatch.

Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 vs Apple AirPods Pro Specifications

Samsung Galaxy Buds2 vs AirPods Pro: Design

The designs of the Galaxy Buds 2 and AirPods Pro are completely different since they both have a different approach to how the earbuds should look and sit in your ear. The Galaxy Buds2 sits inside your ear, but the AirPods Pro gently sits on it. Both can sit firmly, and both can stay in while running or doing any other sports activities. The ear tips can be changed for both earbuds, although AirPods require special ones, meaning standard ear tips won’t fit on them, so you can’t just replace them with ones lying around at home.

The charging cases also have different designs. If you’re wondering which one fits more into your pocket, it would likely be the AirPods Pro charging case due to its slimmer profile, but the Galaxy Buds 2’s case should also be able to fit in most pockets and bags without a problem. The Buds 2 used to have a smaller case, but Samsung redesigned it to fit into the Galaxy Buds lineup, and also made the battery slightly larger.

The Galaxy Buds 2 also comes in four colors, Graphite, White, Olive, and Lavender. The AirPods Pro comes in only one single color — white. If you want to further customize your AirPods Pro, we have a list of the best AirPods Pro cases available for you to choose from, but there aren’t many other options to change the color of the earbuds themselves or the charging case.

Samsung Galaxy Buds2 vs AirPods Pro: Performance

On paper, both earbuds perform equally well. Apple’s AirPods Pro is known to be among the best on the market, but Samsung is also known to be a king of wireless earbuds and has been among the top manufacturers for years. The Galaxy Buds Pro are excellent, and so are the AirPods Pro. Both devices also offer similar functionalities and features with Active Noise Cancellation, transparency/ambient mode, and EQ settings.

If you’ve tried out Spatial mode on the AirPods and the continuity features, you might never want to leave the ecosystem, although Samsung has been working on similar functionalities on its own devices too for many years. Multi-device support is available on previous Galaxy Buds and on the Buds Pro, but we don’t have information on whether the new Buds 2 supports it by default.

Samsung Galaxy Buds2 vs AirPods Pro: Battery and Charging

We don’t have the exact details regarding the AirPods Pro charging case and individual earbuds, but we do know the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 are expected to have a better battery life on paper. The Buds 2 will last you seven and a half hours on a single charge with ANC (Active Noise Cancelling) turned off, while the AirPods Pro are supposed to last about five hours. Both of these are acceptable, but the Buds 2 even outperforms the AirPods Pro when ANC is turned on, resulting in five hours of battery life.

The Galaxy Buds 2 also comes with the standard USB-C port, while Apple is still stuck with the Lightning Port. If you travel a lot, or want to cut down on the many cables you may be carrying with you every day, the Galaxy Buds 2 wins in this round. It also has fast charging, which Samsung advertises as “5 minute quick charging”. Wireless Qi charging is supported on both devices, and they have the charging coil placed at the bottom of their charging cases.

Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 vs AirPods Pro: Price

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 retails for $149.99, while the AirPods Pro costs $249. There are quite a few differences between the two devices, one of the major ones being compatibility and support for devices. Both devices are locked into their own ecosystems, meaning if you want to take advantage of the full feature-set, you would have to use the correct device that supports each of these wireless earbuds. Samsung recommends Samsung devices, and Apple recommends Apple devices. 

Fortunately, Samsung can see that other devices exist in the world and allows most Android phones to take advantage of most of the Buds 2 features since the app can work on most devices. One audio codec is Samsung proprietary, but the rest are supported across a wide variety of different devices and platforms. If you aren’t in the Apple ecosystem, the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 are excellent wireless earbuds, but if you’re deep into the Apple ecosystem, Apple’s AirPods Pro may be a better pick due to the benefits you get with them.