The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro are Samsung's latest flagship 'buds, but Samsung stopped shipping them almost immediately after their launch event: early buyers were reporting some quality control issues (one of which we were able to replicate), and Samsung took the unusual step of shutting down shipments altogether. But the problems now appear to have been solved, and the buds are shipping once more.
The reason for the shipments being halted was because Samsung didn't want to risk more badly-behaved buds reaching customers, so not only did it sort out its production issues but it decided to re-test Buds 3 Pro that had already gone through quality testing. That meant a frustrating delay for pre-order buyers, but it should also mean that nobody's now receiving earbuds that don't meet their expectations.
What was the problem with the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro?
It wasn't one single problem but several. The first reports of issues centered on the ear tips, which were so delicate that they could easily be torn by accident, and we flagged this in our Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro review. But then more reports emerged of other issues, such as poor quality finishing, wrongly positioned Blade Lights – so the LED strip that should be in the left bud was in the right, and vice-versa – and uneven gaps between sections.
These kinds of issues are supposed to be caught in the quality control process, but that clearly wasn't happening here – so to its great credit, Samsung immediately took full responsibility, apologized to affected customers and set out to fix the issue. In a statement posted to the Samsung website, the firm said that "We deeply apologize for the quality issues that have arisen with some products purchased during the pre-sale period... we will carefully inspect all processes and do our best to prevent similar incidents from happening again."
Now that shipping appears to have restarted, customers can expect their orders to arrive reasonably soon: according to SamMobile, users in the US and Europe have now received their orders and others' order status pages are showing revised delivery dates.
