Samsung is coming for Apple with the new Galaxy Buds Pro

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Need a new pair of earbuds to go with your Samsung Galaxy S21 preorder? Well, Samsung has you covered, with the $199 Galaxy Buds Pro.

The design of the new earbuds is somewhere in the middle of Samsung’s existing pairing of the Galaxy Buds Plus and Galaxy Buds Live. They’re not shaped like forbidden jellybeans, but keep the metallic coloring and a similar-looking charging case.

Battery life is rated at five hours with noise canceling on, or up to eight if it’s switched off. The case has enough battery to add an additional 13, or 20 if no ANC. Oh, and they’re IPX7 rated, so you should have no issues using them as your main workout buds.

The smaller design minimizes the “contact area between your ear and the bud, improving comfort and minimizing any clogged-up feeling,” according to Samsung, while still stuffing an 11mm woofer and 6.5mm tweeter. That should give the Buds Pro some seriously good sound.

Samsung recognizes that earbuds “aren’t just used for entertainment anymore,” and have added active noise cancellation, a refined ambient mode that lets you amplify surrounding noise by up to 20db, and can even tell when you’ve started speaking so they auto-switch into ambient mode and lower your music volume. Nice work, Sammy.

Three microphones and a voice pickup unit should make your voice calls crystal clear, and there’s new tech inside to reduce wind noise picked up by the mics. Dolby Head tracking provides 360 spatial audio when used on a Samsung phone or tablet, and they’re set up to auto-switch between Samsung devices, in the same way AirPods do it with Apple gear.

Preorders start today, with availability on Jan 15.

Interested in the new Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.