Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro: Atoning for missteps

Though the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro has been on the market for a couple of years now, Samsung recently released a successor, the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro. So, do the new earbuds sand off the rough edges of their predecessors? Let’s take a look at the matchup of Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro to find out.

The design of the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro is quite a bit different than that of the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro — possibly in part due to internal frustration about the latter’s similarity to other earbuds. Though both have similar ear tip designs and housing designs, the lollipop stems are quite different, and the newer earbuds have aesthetics that are far more classic than edgy. Both have similar controls, and both have a similar fit — meaning those looking to upgrade from the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro to Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro shouldn’t have any nasty surprises waiting for them if the former worked well for them already.

The charging case of the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro is also much smaller than that of the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, despite it also having wireless charging. Though both products have cases that can be fit into pants pockets, the charging case of the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro is much easier to port around without resorting to chucking it into a bag.

Both earbuds have an ingress protection rating of IP57, which means that they should, in theory, be able to withstand a dunk in water for a short period of time. This means that neither product is better than the other when it comes to finding exercise buds, as both are excellent in this regard.

Do the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro or Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro have more features?

Interestingly enough, the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro and Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro have a largely similar set of features — and much of the difference between the two models will likely come in the form of future firmware updates and not something that’s available right now. Really, the main differences are a number of AI features like Gemini and Perplexity hotword integration, and gesture controls. There’s also the ability to capture spatial audio when recording from a compatible Samsung phone, which is an interesting way to make watching your home videos a little more immersive when you use headphones.

Both earbuds use the Samsung Wear app, which governs things like settings, features, EQ presets, and control customization. Keeping this app and your earbuds up to date means never missing out on new features as they come along, so it’s recommended to stay on top of this for either the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro or Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro. It’s unclear how long the latter will receive support in this manner, but it’s not unheard of to see older earbuds get new features added long after they’re released.

How do the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro and Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro connect?

As the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro is newer than the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, it’s not surprising that its connection method is more advanced than that of the older earbuds. The Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro uses Bluetooth 6.1 to connect to devices with AAC, SBC, LC3, and (if supported) SSC. Though the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro supports the same codecs, it only uses Bluetooth 5.4.

In practice, this doesn’t mean much, as both products enjoy the best of what Samsung has to offer. Additionally, since both products offer Auracast, most of the features that people may be clamoring for come with the earbuds without any waiting on firmware updates. However, there is no true Multipoint (you have to enable switching in the Wear app, and even then it’s only between Samsung devices), and many of the headlining features for the earbuds like the Ultra-wideband mic and the Samsung Scalable/Seamless Codecs, are locked to Samsung devices (S24 and newer) with One UI 6.1.1+.

Is battery life better on the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro or Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro?

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro last longer than the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro’s paltry 4 hours and 31 minutes in our standardized test. In like conditions, the newer earbuds were able to last 6 hours and 1 minute — bang-on what Samsung estimates their latest earbuds should be able to provide with the ANC on.

Both products can charge via USB-C or wireless charging pad, which is a nice plus given that USB-C ports can sometimes become caked in pocket lint or have their tiny solder points break if you’re not careful. Just get a Qi-compatible pad if you elect to go this route.

Though the hardware around both the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro and Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro’s ANC is quite similar, the effectiveness is notably improved on the newer model with some processing and algorithmic changes. We found the improvement to be detectable under 1kHz, which is more noticeable to most listeners because it’s where much of the more annoying sounds in the world live. Though the isolation is largely similar between the two products, the ANC’s effectiveness is good enough to mention.

Do the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro sound better than the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro?

Both the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro and Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro sound quite good, but tuning differences will ultimately decide which earbuds you, personally, prefer. We measured both models in our lab, and can walk you through the results.

Objective Measurements

As you can probably see from the chart above, both the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro and Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro have fairly different measurements. What this translates to in your listening is a little tough to be complete, but the broad strokes are that the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro will sound similarly bassy as the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro even though the measurements don’t look that way. This is because the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro has less treble emphasis than the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro does, and less treble extension. That said, the EQ presets change the equation a little bit. For both sets of earbuds, the presets are similar in how they change the tuning, but the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro almost always ends up bassier than the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro.

Both responses are quite far from what we typically look for, but there is no one “perfect” tuning or target that will guarantee you’ll like something. These earbuds are decidedly for the mass-market, and those who really like bass. If you find that your music is getting muffled or hard to hear, you may want to touch everything below 300Hz down by around 2-4dB to see if that helps anything.

How would most people rate the sound from 1 to 5?

If you were to hand both the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro and Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro to a few hundred people, and asked them to rate the sound on a scale of 1 to 5, you’d get a very high mean opinion score for both sets of earbuds. Using the Multi-Dimensional Audio Quality algorithm, we’re able to simulate such a listening test and predict the results — shown in the chart above. Though the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro wins out on immersiveness, the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro exhibits less annoying distortion.

Do the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro or Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro have a better microphone?

Though the hardware is somewhat similar between products, the mic of the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro has a little bit more computing power under the hood to help dispel noise. You can hear for yourself below.

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro microphone demo (Ideal conditions):

In addition to using a mix of microphone arrays and voice pickup units (VPUs), both products support 16kHz audio when used with compatible devices and networks. However, unless both users’ networks support the added bandwidth of this feature, your mic’s performance will reflect the normal 8kHz bandwidth.

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro: Price and availability

As the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro just hit shelves, it’s unlikely you’ll find them for much less than the original MSRP of $249. However, we have a handy dandy widget that will keep track of this for us. Now that the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro is nearing the end of its life, you should be able to find it most places still — but on sale. Price may be a major motivating factor for you if it gets cut down enough, so shop around; see what you can find.

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro price history:

Though there are reasons to get either product, I’d recommend getting the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro over the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro. Not only is the performance better, but it will remain current for longer, and with more future devices. Additionally, the up-front cost is competitive with other flagship-level earbuds, even if some of the higher-end features are locked to the Samsung ecosystem. However, if you’re looking for a bargain, the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro does offer a lot of the same features — and this model should be going on sale as stores try to clear out inventory.