Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 and 4 Pro review: Impressive audio, imperfect ANC
Samsung caught flak for the Galaxy Buds 3. The company’s mimicry of Apple’s AirPods was all too obvious last year when it opted for a stem or “blade” design after several generations of putting touch controls on the main housing of its earbuds. The Galaxy Buds 4 and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro continue that trajectory, as Samsung keeps adding new features with direct parallels to AirPods. The good news is, both models have been improved in various ways, all while their prices stay the same.
A refined design that’s still too familiar
On last year’s Galaxy Buds models, Samsung introduced its “blade” design and overall shapes that clearly took inspiration from Apple’s earbuds. While all of that remains the same on the Galaxy Buds 4 lineup, Samsung made some refinements that at least gives its earbuds a more polished look.
The angular “blade” is gone from both the open-fit Galaxy Buds 4 and silicone-tipped Galaxy Buds 4 Pro. That stem is now a flat panel with a thin metal cover, but it’s still called the blade (thanks, Samsung). And thank the gods, the gimmicky blade lights on the last Pro model are now gone. The Galaxy Buds 4 and 4 Pro both have an indented area that accepts both swipes and presses for the onboard controls, a design choice that makes that area easy to find by touch alone. Aside from that, the overall shape of both Galaxy Buds 4 models remains mostly the same, and they’re both pretty much the same size too.
One big change for the Galaxy Buds 4 duo is the charging case. Since the buds now lay flat in there instead of sitting vertically in the case on the previous model, Samsung has gone back to its rounded square shape from older generations. The company did, however, keep the translucent lids, so you can clearly see if the earbuds are in the case without having to open it.
In addition to their styles (the Buds 4 are open fit while the Pro have ear tips), a notable distinction between the two is their ingress protection (IP) levels. The Galaxy Buds 4 Pro i
