Apple AirPods Vs Samsung Galaxy Buds: Which Is The Winner?

Alongside the Galaxy S10 series, Samsung also introduced its new wireless Bluetooth earphones called Galaxy Buds last month. It is known that Samsung unveiled its first real wireless earbuds three years ago with the Samsung Gear IconX. Although Samsung is the first company to produce this kind of product, Apple actually popularized this kind to the market. Apple’s products introduced with much better features than other rivals.

To know which one is better in the wireless earbuds, we compared the Galaxy Buds with the Apple AirPods in this article.

Features and Software

A highlight that makes the AirPods distinguished from the others was its integration with iOS. Users could easily connect the earphones with their phones. Apple solved the long-time annoying issues of holding and pressing buttons or finding an NFC spot with the only easy act of opening the lid. There were also other niceties like the ability of the earphones to detect when you wear them or take them out and automatically pause or play the music.

Following what Apple has done with the AirPods for years, Samsung finally integrated what it has observed Apple in its Galaxy Buds. When the Galaxy S10’s users open the device case, it pops up a dialog, but it is only possible when you have the Samsung SmartThings application as well as an official Samsung account.

The Galaxy Wearables application is well-designed and allows users to adjust some features like the Ambient sound, EQ presets, Find My Earbuds, and sending application notification to speaker units.

The application lets users adjust the touchpad put on two speaker units. Users can choose the function of a long press such as turning on fast ambient sound, beginning voice command or adjusting the volume.

However, its touchpad is extremely bad. When users do not wear them, the Galaxy Buds’ touchpad is shut down but is easily activated it touches the skin because the earbuds come with capacitive scanners instead of the optical ones like the AirPods. Additionally, the multi-tap gestures especially the triple tap hardly work properly.

Moreover, tapping the Galaxy Buds is completely uncomfortable, meanwhile, the AirPods’ users do not feel unpleasant or hurt when they tap on as users do not need to put them deep in their ears.

Galaxy Buds: 6/10

AirPods: 8/10

Design

Initially, when looking at the case, you will see both devices’ packaging is slightly minimal. Their cases largely bear the personal speaker units’ design. The new Galaxy Buds feature transverse design while the AirPods has a taller case. While users can use a hand to open the AirPods case’s lid, Galaxy Buds’ users have to use both hands. Additionally, the speaker parts in these two devices are also differently placed. The Samsung’s Galaxy Buds loosely sit within the case meanwhile, Apple’s AirPods do well in this part.

Another difference is that the case of AirPods has a rear mode button for pairing while the case of the Galaxy Buds doesn’t.

As for the size, Samsung’s wireless earbuds case is certainly bigger than that of the AirPods, which probably does not fit your pocket like the AirPods. However, it doesn’t matter when wearing either of them around.

In terms of speaker units, the Galaxy Buds surpasses the AirPods. While the design of the AirPods does not look goofy like before and I absolutely highly evaluate the ease of popping them out or in without adjusting the earbuds around in the ears at any moment, the design is more basic than the Galaxy Buds’.

Although both devices are not splash resistant, the design of the Galaxy Buds appears more versatile with silicone ear tips. While users of the AirPods only has one size choice of ear tips, the Galaxy Buds offers up to three sizes to fit your ears.

In addition, the Galaxy Buds also come with a small wingtips pair that I think to make them stay in the proper position during exercising. For me, I do not need to have the wings because I did not wear them much for workouts so I took them out. But in my opinion, if you regularly wear them when you are exercising, it would be more comfortable to use the wingtips.

Both devices bring comfortable experience to users. I highly appreciate the perfect fit of the AirPods as well as the Galaxy Buds on my ears.

Another selling point of the new Galaxy Buds is that it is available in up to three color options including yellow, white and black while the AirPods come in the iconic white of Apple.

Galaxy Buds: 7.5/10

AirPods: 7/10

Performance

Frankly, in terms of sound quality, both devices are a bit mediocre pair of earbuds for many different reasons including users’ tastes.

The AirPods’ sounder is warmer and darker, which means that there is a slight emphasis on the middle bass, but not much high. The device also offers a lot on the deep bass, but fat middle bass that is the place that almost music bass sits anyway, making it difficult to recognize this. In general, the sound seems not much detailed and slightly muddy sometimes. But it still works rather well across many genres and quite well for some other kinds such as YouTube videos, audiobooks, and podcasts.

Meanwhile, the newly-released Galaxy Buds come with a more mid-forward sound, alongside a bit hot high-end. And they lack strong mid-bass of Apple’s AirPods and bring a bit hollow and thin sound at the lower end. But, the mid-range is quite aggressive, especially higher mids. It feels very unbalanced sometimes. In addition, the Galaxy Buds don’t work well for podcasts as well as thin and hollow voices, especially male voices while female’ are more sibilant.

In the sound comparison, I will choose the AirPods for the winner due to its less genre dependence and versatile sound as well. Additionally, using the AirPods for a long time does not cause me much tired.

Another selling point of the AirPods is its good connection quality. It has a strong connection, which makes you entirely forget you get two different wireless speakers. Meanwhile, the earbuds of Samsung appear constantly glitching. The speakers sometimes drop sound or sputter, which is the issue between the speakers. Samsung released a software update to reduce the glitching frequency, but it does not completely solve the issue.

A prominent highlight of the Galaxy Buds is its sound isolation ability. I was impressed by the device’s soundproofing capabilities with the surrounding. I only can hear others speaking to me when I stop what I am listening or pull the buds out of my ears.

Additionally, both devices offer acceptable latency, making them be able to be used for playing casual games or watching videos.

As for the call quality, two earphones were bad due to outdated audio codes that Bluetooth accessories use for the voice calls, turning users’ voice to a confused mess. Therefore, both devices failed in this call quality test.

Galaxy Buds: 6.5/10

AirPods: 6.5/10

Battery life and charging

Both Samsung and Apple do a good job in battery life. The AirPods are able to last more than 5 hours with only a charge on the battery placed inside the speakers. But users can have around 24 hours of the battery life when combined with the case battery. Meanwhile, the Galaxy Buds can last around 7 hours on a charge. And their case is able to charge them more than two times for the total usage in around 21-22 hours.

This means that the Galaxy Buds last longer for each charge before charging them again while the AirPods offer more battery life in general.

It takes around an hour in order to fully charge the flat battery of the AirPods with its case while the Galaxy Buds case needs up to around 2.5 hours.

Galaxy Buds: 7/10

AirPods: 7/10

Verdict

In general, if I have to choose either Apple or Samsung makes better truly wireless earphones, I will choose Apple. The AirPods has many features that Samsung can’t catch up with such as the touchpad, the sound, and the connectivity.

Galaxy Buds: 27/40

AirPods: 28.5/40