Samsung enters the open-ear wireless earbud market with the Galaxy Buds On, offering a more comfortable design, ambient awareness features, and integration with Galaxy software, set to launch in South Korea on 27 October 2026.
Samsung has introduced the Galaxy Buds On, its first clip-on wireless earbuds, moving beyond the familiar in-ear format. The open-ear design sits around the outer ear rather than sealing the canal, which Samsung says should make them more comfortable for longer listening sessions and better suited to runners, walkers and commuters who still need to hear traffic and other ambient sounds. The company has confirmed a South Korean launch on 27 October 2026, with pricing set at KRW 299,000, or roughly $220.
The hardware is built around a curved arch linking the two sides of each earbud, a shape that matches earlier leaks and distinguishes the Buds On from Samsung’s more conventional Galaxy Buds 4 range. Samsung is offering them only in black at launch. To compensate for the acoustics of an open design, it has added TwinBoost speakers, automatic volume adjustment and what it calls Audio Leakage Reduction, a system aimed at limiting how much sound escapes into nearby spaces. That said, Samsung’s own notes make clear that leakage can still happen, especially at higher volumes or in quieter rooms, and there is no mention of active noise cancellation for listening.
Samsung is also leaning heavily on Galaxy software features. According to the company, the Buds On can trigger Gemini Live with a voice prompt, record voice memos with a long press, and respond to head gestures for calls, alarms and notifications. Those functions depend on a compatible Galaxy phone or tablet with Galaxy AI support, while Samsung says the earbuds require Android 12 or newer and at least 1.5GB of memory; iPhone support is not listed. The earbuds connect automatically when their case is opened near a Galaxy phone, and core audio controls are surfaced in system settings rather than the separate Galaxy Wearable app.
Battery claims point to up to 9.5 hours of listening from the earbuds alone and up to 38 hours with the case, although Samsung says those figures come from tests on a pre-production unit paired with a recent Galaxy phone under default conditions. For calls, it quotes up to 5.5 hours from the earbuds and up to 25 hours with the case. The Buds On are rated IP54 for the earbuds themselves, meaning they should withstand limited dust ingress and splashes, but the charging case carries no such rating. Samsung also says the earbuds use three microphones, a voice pickup sensor and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S7 Gen 1 Sound Platform with a Class-D amplifier.
The launch puts Samsung into a growing category that already includes Bose’s Ultra Open Earbuds and Sony’s LinkBuds Clip. That makes the Buds On less a novelty than a belated entry into a space aimed at users who want awareness of their surroundings as much as audio quality. In South Korea, the Buds On are positioned between Samsung’s Galaxy Buds 4 and Buds 4 Pro on price, though Samsung has not said when they will reach other markets. For now, it has offered no separate Kenyan launch date or local price, leaving international buyers to wait for a wider rollout.
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