Samsung Galaxy Buds 4: Two-minute review

When I sat down and first started listening to the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4, sitting at my desk at home, I was mildly pleased with their audio performance. But when I started using them out and about in the world, not in my cosy chair, these quickly became some of my least favorite headphones to test in recent months. Some of the best earbuds around for the cash-savvy buyer? Sadly, no.

That’s a surprise; I gave the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro an almost-perfect review score, and expected these affordable alternatives to fare just as well. But I have been loathe to use them during the testing period, for one simple reason.

These earbuds just wouldn’t stay in my ears. When I was sitting still at home, they’d more or less work fine – although they’d often slip from their default position so the drivers were further from my ears than they should be. If this was the entirety of my testing, I’d give them a perfectly fine review, but life’s not just about sitting still.

When I went on walks with the buds, they’d slip constantly, and I’d have to readjust them several times each minute to push them back in. I like to walk, and went on multiple hour-long rambles during the testing time. Imagine how long I had my hands in my ears, fidgeting and fixing slippage.

They also fared incredibly poorly on public transport (too shaky), when I was in bed (too angled) and even sometimes when I’d rotated my swivelling office chair. I didn't dare take them to the gym or on a run.

Even if the things weren’t flung from my ears multiple times per song, they have a truly awful battery life; with ANC and other features turned on, I’d get about three hours per charge. And that's before I even mention the meagre ANC performance – because of the poor fit, the active noise cancellation algorithm here has absolutely zero chance of stopping you hearing the sounds around you.

There are some elements of the Galaxy Buds 4 that you might like: they offer really high-quality music, and do look classy. And if you’re lucky enough to have ears like vices, you might not have the same fit issues I did – but I’ve never had issues quite like this in other similar buds, and know Samsung’s earbuds have a reputation for poor fit, so I really don’t think it’s a me problem.

A quick Google search shows that users had the same issue with the Buds 3. It's easy to find reports of them slipping out of the ears, so it's clear that this is a recurring issue which the company hasn't fixed. I try to avoid reading coverage of products I'm testing, but I've already seen reports of Buds 4 users having the same issue.

If you’ve got the money and a Samsung phone, the easier fix is to splash out a little more on the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro, with their ear-tips offering a more secure fit (though not a perfect one). But honestly, there are countless great wireless earbuds for this much or less, that won’t jump from your ear at every opportunity.

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 review: Price and release date

• Announced in February 2026, released March
• Sells for $179 / £159 / AU$299
• No price change from past models

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 were announced at Galaxy Unpacked on February 25, and have been available to buy from March 11, just like the Pro model and the Samsung Galaxy S26 series.

The retail price of the buds is $179 / £159 / AU$299, which is a mid-range price for earbuds like these, though they seem affordable when compared to the $249 / £219 / AU$399 Buds 4 Pro. There’s been no price hike over the Galaxy Buds 3, which is always good to see.

I know what you’re wondering: ‘how does that compare to Apple?’. The AirPods 4 with ANC cost $179 / £179 / AU$299, a very similar price point: the same in the US and Australia, but pricier in the UK. But if you don’t need ANC, the standard AirPods 4 cost $129 / £129 / AU$219, so they’re cheaper.

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 review: Specs

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 review: Features

• Buds last about 3 hours per charge
• ANC has limited effectiveness
• Range of handy features

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 technically do have noise cancellation, but due to their open-fit design (think Apple EarPods), they don’t plug up your ear to stop outside noise leaking in. So practically, they reduce very little noise. I could notice some noise cancellation when turning the feature off and on, but only a marginal amount.

Sometimes when I had the buds in but wasn't listening to music, I could hear them try to compensate for loud noises by pumping out what sounded like white noise. Not only did it fail to stop the background noise, it added a little extra layer of annoyance. Don’t buy these if you need good ANC.

Don’t buy them if you need a long-lasting battery either; their play time is abysmal. With ANC turned off you’re only looking at 6 hours of listening; Samsung’s official figure puts ANC-on listening at five hours but in my own testing, with features like SSC (Samsung Seamless Codec) turned on, I was barely scraping three.

You can get about five recharges from the case, which isn’t amazing, but didn’t affect me too much during my testing weeks. Just remember to plug them in regularly.

But now we can move onto the other features, and there’s a lot more to like there. The buds support Bluetooth 6.1, with support for codecs like SSC, AAC, SBC and LC3 (no LDAC). I had a few Bluetooth dropouts during my time with the buds, but not so many that it couldn’t have been environmental.

The buds offer a range of tools like call sharpening profiles, spatial audio with head tracking, a nine-band equalizer with presets, volume normalization, adaptive sound to cater for how you wear your earbuds (i.e., at what stage of falling out they’re at) and so on. You can even use the buds to tap into nearby audio broadcasts.

The only major omission is multipoint connection, but that’s not even a feature I’d consider mandatory in earbuds. There’s also no listening test, like in the Pro, but I didn’t find it wholly useful in those buds so again, no (further) marks docked.

• Features score: 3.5/5

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 review: Design

• Swanky 'Blade' look
• Charging case is small and light
• Buds aren't designed for sticking in ear

I’ve got to say, I really like the Samsung Galaxy Bud 4’s charging case. It’s a lightweight, see-through square box, that the buds easily slot into. It weighs just 45.1g and measures 51 x 51 x 28.3mm, and really disappeared into my pocket.

The buds themselves look pretty good too, with their refined ‘Blade’ designed from the Buds 3 stripping out the lights and much of the fuss. The polished silver metal band on the white buds I tested looks great, but there’s also a black model you can pick up.

Unfortunately, that’s basically all I can praise about the Buds 4’s design, because for the three weeks I tested the buds, their build was the bane of my existence.

I’ve already spent much of the introduction to this article moaning about the Galaxy Buds 4’s fit, but in case you skipped that: these things just don’t stay still in your ears. If they’re not outright falling out, they’re moving around so that the drivers are pointing any which way, making music sound worse.

This'll no doubt be worst for people with big ears, but a few design decisions ensure that they won't be a good fit for anyone. The lack of a tip means you can’t just wedge the Buds 4 in your ears and hope for the best, and the material of the body is so smooth and friction-free that it fails to keep them anchored in ears.

It feels like the weighting of the buds is wrong too, so their own heft causes them to list and then fall from the ears. They’re not heavy, at just 4.6g, but the amount of ear-pirouettes they managed suggests the center of gravity is off in some way.

On the Buds 4’s stem, there’s a touch control: swipe up or down for volume, or pinch to play and pause your music. I quickly discovered that swiping was just another way for me to fling the buds out of my ears, but pinching is great: a light click lets you know that your demand was registered.

• Design score: 2.5/5

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 review: Sound quality

• Single driver per bud
• High-quality streamed music
• Detailed sound

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 have a single driver per ear; it’s one of the big downgrades from the Pro, with the bass-focused woofer absent. It’s a shame, because extra bass oomph is needed: it might go some way in mitigating how quickly you lose it when the earbuds start to slip…

Generally speaking, and when you’re sitting still with the Buds 4 angled perfectly, they sound about as good as you’d expect for the price. They’re bright and detailed; the acoustic guitars in Only the Good Die Young by Billy Joel sparkle and the keys in the piano introduction to Tiny Dancer by Elton John had just as much personality as the rocket man’s own voice did.

The lack of a dedicated woofer hurts, when comparing these to the Buds 4 Pro. Bass isn’t as scooping and defined as I’d like, instead sounding muddy indistinct. If you listen to Phosphorscent’s C’est La Vie No.2 by Phosphorescent or The Rocketeer by Foxy Shazam, the bass just melts into the band and loses its edge.

Detail and quality really is the name of the game here, as for all their strengths and weaknesses, you’re hearing it all… at least, if you’re using a Samsung phone, which allows for the SSC-UHQ codec. This allows for 24-bit/96kHz transmission, and makes an audible difference over listening on other devices.

So the Galaxy Buds 4 aren’t the best earbuds I’ve tested, even at the price, but they’re decent. But remember everything I said about the fit? Yeah – between the slow slipping and leaking background sound, I very rarely got the best from the buds. When I used them while walking, or on public transport, the bass vanished pretty quickly and often the mids were drowned out by noise, leaving only some hi-hats and vocals to enjoy.

The buds have a fairly high max volume, but I noticed something odd: the bass would audibly drop from the mix as I got near the top. Every time I pressed ‘volume up’ from five steps off max, every instrument would get louder, except for the bass which would step back. It meant two or three presses of my volume keys would result in a drastically different sound mix, and it was much tinnier-sounding at the top than I’d expect.

• Sound quality: 4/5

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 review: Value

• Mid-range price for buds
• Other options get you more for your money

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 aren’t cheap, and honestly, you’re within your rights to expect a little more from your earbuds.

A single driver? A sub-movie-length battery life? A design that doesn’t seem well thought out? If these were budget buds I’d understand, but $179 / £159 / AU$299 is far from cheap in the varied world of wireless earbuds.

There are other similar-priced options out there which offer you a lot more for your money, or give a similar package to the Buds 4 but at a fraction of the cost.

• Value: 3/5

Should I buy the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4?

Buy them if…

Don’t buy them if…

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 review: Also consider

How I tested the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4

• Tested for a month
• Tested at home, on walks and on public transport

I tested the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 immediately after the Pro model, so they were a natural comparison. I used them paired to a Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra phone for the duration of the testing process, and listened to audio on Spotify, internal storage, various streaming services and games.

The test process for the buds was around three weeks, though I used them occasionally for a week prior when I received them at the same time as the Pro.

I've been reviewing gadgets at TechRadar for about 8 years now, including plenty of earbuds and Samsung gadgets (including the Buds 3 Pro too).

• First reviewed in March 2026

• Read TechRadar's reviews guarantee

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro: Two-minute review

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 AirPods 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 TechRadar'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 AirPods and its iPhone, 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 review: Price and release date

• Announced in February 2026, released March
• Sells for $249 / £219 / AU$399
• No price hike from past models

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 AirPods 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 AirPods 4).

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro review: Specs

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro review: Features

• 7/30-hour battery life, less with ANC or features
• Fantastic ANC, and intelligent ambient mode
• Plenty of useful features in app

Samsung doesn’t make as much of a song and dance about its ANC capabilities as, say, Bose (literally calling its headphones ‘QuietComfort’), 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.

• Features score: 4/5

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro review: Design

• Redesigned buds are sleek and light
• Case sees new look; improvement in a few ways
• Eartips are hard to remove and don't stick in ear well

There’s no denying that Galaxy Buds Pro are AirPods 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

• Design score: 4/5

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro review: Sound quality

• Tweeter and woofer, each with own amplifier
• Well-defined bass, bustling with energy
• Samsung phone needed for highest-res audio

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/96kHz, 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.

• Sound quality: 4.5/5

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro review: Value

• They ain't cheap!
• You can save a lot of money if you want
• Good for certain Samsung-owning audiophiles

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.

• Value: 3.5/5

Should I buy the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro?

Buy them if…

Don’t buy them if…

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro review: Also consider

How I tested the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro

• Tested for a month
• 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 OnePlus 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 YouTube, 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.

• First reviewed in March 2026

• Read TechRadar's reviews guarantee