Samsung has offically announced the Galaxy Buds On. They are the first Galaxy earbuds that clip onto your ear instead of going into it. They go on sale in South Korea on 27th October 2026. The price there is about USD 222 or KES 28,700.
Three weeks ago we covered the leaked renders. The final product matches them: each earbud is two buds joined by an arched band, one on each side of the ear. Some details in that piece, including how the touch controls work, differ from what Samsung now says. Black is the only colour Samsung lists.
The open design, the features and the specs
Open-ear earbuds leave the ear canal uncovered. You hear your music and your surroundings at the same time. Samsung says that also means less strain on the ear after hours of wear, and it pitches the Buds On for walks and runs where you need to know what’s around you.
With nothing sealing the canal, bass tends to get thin, your music can reach the person next to you, and street noise can drown it out. Samsung lists three features aimed at the acoustic limits of an open design: a TwinBoost speaker that adds low-frequency sound, automatic volume that follows the noise around you, and Audio Leakage Reduction, which Samsung says it is applying for the first time. It pitches the leakage feature for libraries and cafes, yet its own footnote says some sound can still escape depending on volume, ear shape and background noise, and more noticeably in a quiet room. So they suit a walk or a run better than a quiet room at high volume. Neither the release nor the spec sheet mentions noise cancellation for listening, so assume there is none.
Most of the smart features lean on a Galaxy phone. Samsung’s hands-free features work when the earbuds are paired with a phone or tablet that supports Galaxy AI, the name Samsung gives its phone AI features. Say “Hey Google, let’s talk live” and Gemini Live, Google’s assistant for open-ended voice conversations, starts. Hold the back of an earbud and speak, and it records a voice memo that you can later search through Bixby, Samsung’s assistant, but only with Samsung’s Voice Recorder and Bixby apps and the long-press action set up in Settings. Head gestures work too: nodding or shaking your head answers or ends calls, dismisses alarms and handles message notifications. Open the case near a Galaxy phone and the earbuds connect. Volume and the equaliser sit in the phone’s settings and quick panel, with no need to install Samsung’s Galaxy Wearable app.
So if your Galaxy phone supports Galaxy AI, you should get the hands-free features Samsung lists. Samsung’s compatibility line is Android 12 or newer with more than 1.5GB of memory, and it adds that some features may not be available on non-Samsung devices. It lists nothing for iPhone, so don’t count on it.
Samsung quotes up to 9.5 hours of music from the earbuds, with the other battery figures in the table. They come from Samsung’s own testing of a pre-production unit paired with a recent Galaxy phone at default settings, so treat them as a ceiling. Samsung rates the earbuds IP54, meaning they resist limited dust and splashing water. The case isn’t rated.
| Galaxy Buds On | Samsung’s figure |
|---|---|
| Design | Clip-on, open-ear |
| Speaker | 11.3mm TwinBoost |
| Chip | Snapdragon S7 Gen 1 Sound Platform, Class-D amplifier |
| Microphones | 3, plus a voice pickup sensor |
| Battery (typical) | Earbuds 61mAh, case 530mAh |
| Music playback | Up to 9.5 hours, up to 38 hours with case |
| Call time | Up to 5.5 hours, up to 25 hours with case |
| Bluetooth and codecs | Bluetooth 6.2; SSC, SSC UHQ, AAC, SBC, LC3 |
| Water resistance | IP54, earbuds only |
| Weight | 6.65g per earbud, 41.0g case |
| Size | Earbud 21.4 x 24.2 x 27.1mm, case 51 x 51 x 28.3mm |
| Colour | Black |
| Compatibility | Android 12 or newer, more than 1.5GB of memory; iPhone not listed |
| Noise cancellation | Not listed |
| Price in South Korea | KRW 299,000 (about KES 28,700) |
| Price and date outside South Korea | Not announced |
| Kenya | Not announced |
| Software update period | Not announced |
Price, rivals and Kenya
In South Korea the Buds On sit between the two Galaxy Buds 4 models Samsung announced in February: the Galaxy Buds 4 at KRW 259,000 (about KES 24,900) and the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro at KRW 359,000 (about KES 34,500).
Samsung hasn’t announced a Kenyan date or price, so treat KES 28,700 as the Korean price in shillings, not a guide to what you’d pay here. For a sense of where Galaxy earbuds sit in Kenya on 4th October, Avechi lists the Galaxy Buds 4 at KES 14,999 and the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro at KES 20,499, both marked down.
Samsung is arriving after rivals. Bose has sold its Ultra Open earbuds since 15th February 2024 and announced a second generation on 17th September 2026, on sale from 1st October at USD 299, or about KES 38,700. At about USD 222 the Buds On cost less on paper, though one is a Korean price and the other a US one. Sony announced its clip-style LinkBuds Clip in Asia on 22nd January 2026.
Samsung hasn’t said how TwinBoost and Audio Leakage Reduction work, which features drop out on non-Samsung phones, or how long the earbuds get software updates. Its case for the Buds On is the Galaxy integration: pairing by opening the case, Gemini Live by voice and voice memos from the earbud. That helps Galaxy owners and does less for everyone else, since Samsung itself warns that some features may be missing on other phones. For a Galaxy owner in Kenya there is no date or price to plan around yet. We’ll update this piece when Samsung names a global date or price, Kenya included.
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