What on earth are "blade lights"? According to a huge new Samsung leak, we're about to find out. They're part of the leaked specifications of the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, the successors to the Samsung Buds 2 Pro pictured above. We're expecting to see them revealed at Samsung Unpacked in July 2024 alongside a new version of the non-pro Buds 3.
The smart money is that blade lights are part of the rumored redesign that'll see Samsung's best earbuds adopt a similar stem-based design to Apple's AirPods Pro 2. But that's an educated guess, and we won't know for sure until more details emerge. But while the leaked specs don't tell us what the blade lights are, they reveal pretty much everything else.
Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 and Buds 3 Pro: what we know so far
Accordng to the leaked specifications (via Android Headlines), the Pro and non-Pro earbuds look more alike than ever, and will come in a choice of two colors: silver and white. They'll have IP57 dust and water resistance, an improvement over the current earbuds, and will support SmartThings Find so you can use the SmartThings app to find them when they're lost. Bluetooth 5.4 is supported, with an Auto Switch feature.
The Buds 3 will have a single driver for each ear, while the Buds 3 Pro will have two for extended dynamic range, and while both sets will have active noise cancellation, the Buds 3 Pro will also offer Adaptive ANC that we expect to be better. Both models will reportedly support hi-res audio streaming up to 24-bit/96kHz and spatial audio when used with Samsung phones, too.
The Buds 3 reportedly deliver five hours of playing time with ANC on, with the Buds 3 Pro delivering an extra hour on top of that, and an hour more if you turn the ANC off. The cases are slightly different for each model, so the Buds 3 case takes total battery life up to 24 hours, but the Buds 3 Pro case delivers a total of 30 hours.
These new Buds and Buds Pro look like worthwhile upgrades, and we already ranked among the best wireless earbuds – but one detail that hasn't been leaked so far is how much they're going to cost. However, we'd expect them to be priced aggressively in what's become an incredibly competitive market sector, probably close in price to the $249 / £229 AirPods Pro 2 – though we should point out that the Samsung Buds 2 Pro can now be found for around $150 / £150 or even less, which makes them a stone-cold bargain currently.
There's no sign of an official launch date yet, but the most likely release date is at Samsung Unpacked next month, with a release shortly after.
