There’s a specific pleasure in earbuds that just know who you are, and if you carry a Galaxy phone these are those earbuds. The Buds 4 Pro arrived in March 2026 at $249.99, and Samsung went back to a sealed canal fit after the open design of the Buds3 Pro, which is the single most consequential change here. Each bud runs a two-way system, an 11mm woofer paired with a 5.5mm planar tweeter, weighs about 5.1 grams, and carries an IP57 rating. Bluetooth 6.1, USB-C or wireless charging, pinch controls. They won an EISA award, the first Galaxy Buds product to do so.
The sound is big and confident, and the noise cancelling is the real headline. The cancelling knocks out something like 84% of ambient noise on average, and unusually it does it across the whole range rather than just the low rumble. On a train it genuinely works. It isn’t flawless: the bass goes boomy with cancelling engaged and the overall character turns a bit sizzly and hazy, and in a silent room you can hear a faint rush of hiss from the cancelling itself. Turn ANC off in quiet rooms and the tuning tightens up noticeably.
Comfort is genuinely good. I’ve had them in for the better part of a working day without wanting them out, which is remarkable for a sealed bud. Build quality is excellent too, all metal accents and a solid lollipop stem. Two things temper it. Because Samsung dropped the stability fins, the fit lives entirely on the ear tip, so smaller ears may struggle to get a stable seal, and without that seal you lose both the bass and the cancelling. And battery is the recurring Galaxy Buds weakness, at up to 6 hours with cancelling on. That’s a full commute, not a full day.
Here’s the part that decides whether you should buy these. There is no true multipoint, so connecting a second device means going through Samsung’s Wear app rather than it just happening. And a great deal of what makes them special, the hands-free AI, the live translation, the spatial audio, is locked to Samsung phones, mostly the S26 line. On an iPhone or a Pixel you get good earbuds with good ANC and a fraction of the feature list. Pinch controls also take some hunting for, and the mic is inconsistent in wind.
These are for Galaxy owners, and I’d say that almost without qualification. If you carry an S26, the translation and assistant features are the reason to buy and they work beautifully. If you carry anything else, you’re paying $249 for the third or fourth best ANC earbud rather than the first. Skip them too if you need all-day battery or reliable multipoint. The AirPods Pro 3 is the natural rival for iPhone owners, and that’s the right comparison. Inside Samsung’s world though, these are the complete package.
Pros
• ANC measured around 84% average attenuation, and it shows
• Sealed fit and 5.1g weight, comfortable for very long stretches
• Excellent build, IP57, wireless charging
• Live translation and hands-free AI if you carry a Galaxy S26
Cons
• Up to 6 hours with ANC on, which is a commute not a day
• No true multipoint without going through Samsung’s app
• Best features are locked to Samsung phones
• No stability fins, so fit depends entirely on the tip
Our score: 8.1/10