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Massive Samsung Galaxy Buds+ leak reveals huge battery upgrade, small price hike, and more

Updated: Feb 06, 2020, 3:42 AM

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Leaked Galaxy Buds+ renders in white

Given how little we know about Samsung's mysterious next smartwatch, it seems highly unlikely this thing will be announced alongside the Galaxy S20 flagship handset family and the foldable Galaxy Z Flip on February 11.

But the company is widely expected to have a new "hearable" device planned for a launch in San Francisco next Tuesday, and of course, that means we pretty much know everything there is to know about the Galaxy Buds+ already.

The official name of Samsung's sophomore true wireless earbuds effort was revealed a full two months ago, and in the meantime, a steady stream of reports and leaks based on credible inside information slowly divulged the design, colors, and most of the key Galaxy Buds+ selling points. Still, the list of specs and features had a number of blanks, all of which are filled in today by Evan Blass.

Leaked Galaxy Buds+ renders in black

The mobile tech leaking legend known to the masses by his @evleaks Twitter alias just shared with his social media followers a neat chart comparing the Galaxy Buds+ to their forerunners, which makes it a lot easier for us to round up all the things that are about to change as far as Samsung's AirPods rivals are concerned.

Galaxy Buds+ vs Galaxy Buds features and pricing

While the leaked spec sheet obviously doesn't contain a lot of information about audio quality, leaving us waiting to take actual Galaxy Buds+ commercial units for a spin to see (or rather hear) if they sound better than the non-Plus headphones, the biggest upgrade in the pipeline undoubtedly concerns battery life.

It sure looks like the Galaxy Buds+ will be deserving of their "Plus" suffix at least in this essential department, jumping from the up to six-hour endurance of last year's "regular" model to a mind-blowing 11 hours of continuous play time. The truly impressive part is that the Galaxy Buds+ are tipped to look pretty much identical to their predecessors on the outside, gaining less than a gram in weight as a result of a substantial battery size upgrade from 58 to 85mAh.

Massive Samsung Galaxy Buds+ leak reveals huge battery upgrade, small price hike, and more

The bundled wireless charging case is apparently set to make a smaller leap from a 252 to a 270mAh battery capacity, which will nevertheless be enough to take the aforementioned 11-hour autonomy all the way up to 22 hours.

In addition to these major enhancements, Samsung is gearing up to vastly improve the fast charging capabilities of its true wireless earbuds too, as the Galaxy Buds+ will deliver a whole hour of playtime after just 3 minutes of charging. Other notable upgrades seemingly include multi-device connectivity, a 2 way dynamic speaker with a woofer and a tweeter, two outer microphones instead of only one, and an improved touch pad with a direct link to Spotify.

Already rendered in black, white, and blue, the Galaxy Buds+ will also be released in a red hue with the same modest IPX2 water resistance rating as the original Galaxy Buds and no active noise cancellation (just noise isolation) at a price of $149. While there are certainly plenty of cheaper options on the market right now, it's pretty incredible to think this lengthy list of upgrades will add a measly 20 bucks to the regular price of the first-gen Galaxy Buds.

Galaxy Buds+ vs AirPods and AirPods Pro - an early comparison

Before we find out exactly how good the Galaxy Buds+ are at actually playing music, it's obviously not entirely fair to compare them to Apple's smooth and crisp AirPods released in 2019. But the original Galaxy Buds sounded pretty good, and we have every reason to expect at least a small improvement in audio quality.

Leaked Galaxy Buds+ renders in blue

In terms of battery life, the aforementioned numbers will absolutely crush what the $159 second-gen AirPods and $249 AirPods Pro are capable of. Specifically, Apple rates the former model at up to 5 hours of listening time on one charge, while the latter is even humbler, keeping the tunes going for no more than 4.5 hours. Of course, Apple's AirPods charging cases will remain unrivaled, boosting those endurance scores to "more than 24 hours of listening time."

The AirPods Pro also come with a higher IPX4 water resistance rating, not to mention top-notch active noise cancellation. But at 100 bucks less, the Galaxy Buds+ might be very hard to turn down. Even better, Samsung's second-gen true wireless earbuds are expected to ship alongside Galaxy S20+ and S20 Ultra pre-orders at no extra cost.

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Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.