The Galaxy Buds+ look almost identical and come in a pill-shaped loading case with the Galaxy Buds of last year. It’s a little larger than the case of AirPods Pro, but it still fits into almost every single pocket.
The buds themselves are also unchanged from last year’s design. They come with the same swappable tips and each bud has a small touchpad that lets you control music playback and sound settings.
Galaxy Buds, are almost always uncomfortable after extended use. That’s still true with the Galaxy Buds+. But, again, I expect this won’t be an issue for most people.
Battery life, for example, now tops out at 22 hours 11 hours for the buds and the charging case, respectively which is a major improvement from last year’s version which maxed out at 13 hours of total playback time.
The company also made some upgrades to the sound quality, adding additional microphones and improved drivers. It’s a noticeable difference, and while they don’t have the same noise canceling abilities as AirPods Pro, the sound isolation is definitely better than most.
The difference was even more noticeable in ambient mode. With ambient mode on the lowest setting you are more than able to hear noise from my surroundings in addition to my music.
The most intriguing change Samsung made is the addition of an iOS app which makes the Galaxy Buds+ officially iPhone-compatible… sort of. (The original Galaxy Buds can technically pair to iPhones, but without the accompanying app, your functionality is extremely limited.)
For one, you need to pair them in your main Bluetooth settings before you attempt to pair them in the app. If you pair using the app and then in your Bluetooth settings, the buds will connect, but might not actually play any sound.
