Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro vs Galaxy Buds 4: no need to Pro?

Galaxy Buds 4 Pro vs Galaxy Buds 4 design

Last generation reworked the Galaxy Buds from a stemless design to a more AirPods-like look. The new Galaxy Buds 4 series continues down this path but certainly refines the looks.

Both the Buds 4 models have flat stems finished with a brushed metal plate for some premium flair. There’s still a control area on the side of the sides of the stems, where you can pinch or swipe to control multimedia and volume.

Samsung says that the fit of both has been improved. While it did delve deeper with the Buds 4 Pro, explaining it was designed after 100 million ear scan data points and 10,000 virtual simulations, the Galaxy Buds 4 was also said to have a slightly better fit and seal (as much as that can be applied to an open bud design).

This is a huge and important difference between those two devices — sure, the Buds 4 are cheaper, but some customers may prefer them simply because they don’t want the in-ear feel. But my fingers are crossed that the updated Galaxy Buds 4 Pro will have an improved lock-in and comfort factor.

The charging cradles are now back to being horizontal, and fit the earbuds in a speaker-down position. The lid is transparent on both, which looks cool, but let’s hope it doesn’t scratch easily.

For durability, the Buds 4 suffered a slight downgrade. While the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro still have IP57 like the previous model, the Galaxy Buds 4 fell down to IP54.

IP5x means “some” protection from dust, so don’t drop them in the sand. IPx7 means the Pros should be able to survive small dips in shallow water (up to a meter). IPx4 on the other hand only guarantees protection from water splashes. The Buds 4 should be fine in a drizzle, but don’t push your luck.

Galaxy Buds 4 Pro vs Galaxy Buds 4 Sound and ANC

The Galaxy Buds 4 Pro got a more meaningful upgrade here. It still has a dual-speaker system with a dynamic woofer and planar tweeter, like on the Buds 3 Pro. The woofer grew a bit to 11 mm, from 10.5 mm, and its tweeter is now 5.5 mm. That’s smaller than the previous model’s 6.1 mm but that doesn’t mean much by itself, especially when talking about high frequencies. Acoustics and tuning will be important, so testing is required.

The Galaxy Buds 4 still have an 11 mm driver — no word on any change in the hardware, but I’d imagine there may have been some, considering that an all-new design presents all-new acoustics. On paper, a two-way speaker should sound better than single-driver earbuds, but I’ve heard plenty of one-speaker earbuds that made my jaw drop, so… final critique pending.

The Galaxy Buds 4 Pro come with a new Adaptive ANC 2.0, which will dynamically adjust which frequencies are being canceled at any given time. In the meantime, the Galaxy Buds 4 inherit Adaptive ANC 1.0 that was exclusive to the Buds 3 Pro before. It still monitors your environmental noises, but switches between pre-set algorithm profiles instead of actively tuning out specific frequencies.

Otherwise, both sets come with Adaptive EQ, which monitors earbud placement and ear shape to fine-tune the frequency response. And, the Galaxy Wearable app has a custom EQ for you to fine-tune to your needs.

And, again on both, you can listen to 24-bit, 96 kHz audio. That’s courtesy of the Samsung Seamless Codec, so yes, you will need a Samsung phone for that. For other phones, they support AAC.

Voice calls

Another point for the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro upgrade — now with dual-band Bluetooth to transfer the frequencies of your voice all the way up to 16 kHz. This should, in theory, remove the “lisp effect” and make sounds like “s”, “z”, “th” much more distinguishable.

That’s further assisted by a high signal-to-noise ratio microphones.

The Galaxy Buds 4 don’t have the fancy dual-band Bluetooth, but do support LC3 for voice that is much clearer than the SBC of old times (that is embarrassingly still in use).

Special features

Nod and shake — taking a page off the AirPods’ book, the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro will now be able to accept or reject calls via a head nod or shake, respectively. It is currently unknown if this will be added to the Buds 3 Pro via an update.

What the Buds 3 Pro did have, though, was voice commands, such as “next song”, “volume up”, et cetera. These were surprisingly handy while carrying two bags of groceries and I see no reason they wouldn’t also be on the Buds 4 Pro.

Dual AI support — on the Galaxy Buds 4 series, you will be able to call up both Gemini and Bixby. So, ask Google questions or tell it to play your playlist. For Galaxy Home applications, you can just say “Hey, Bixby, turn on the lights”.

Live Interpreter — the live translation feature is back from the Buds 3 series, but doesn’t seem to be upgraded. It still supports 22 languages — same as before — and can be used to translate in-person conversations, and phone calls. But you do need a Galaxy phone to do the processing.

Galaxy Buds 4 Pro vs Galaxy Buds 4 connectivity

Both of these devices are compliant with the new Bluetooth 6.1 standard from 2025. It improves device connectivity and offloads work from the processor, making operation smoother. Bluetooth 6 specifically targeted spatial audio applications, but if you don’t care about that, you should at least enjoy a smoother SmartThings Find experience, as well as know that Bluetooth 6.1 has better security protocols in place.

Unfortunately, there’s no LDAC codec on board here. If you don’t have a Samsung device to use that Samsung Seamless Codec 24-bit 96 kHz, you will have to use AAC. Which is pretty good anyway, so maybe not a huge problem?

Multi-device

The Galaxy Buds 3 series were a bit too ecosystem-y. They didn’t support Bluetooth multipoint and only allowed easy switching between devices if all you had was Samsung tech.

The Galaxy Buds 4 models ease up a little bit. No, they still don’t offer multipoint for dual-device connectivity. But if you download the Samsung Wearable app on your non-Samsung Android device, and you log in with your Samsung account, you should be able to seamlessly switch to and off of that device. Kind of like AirPods and iCloud.

We just tested this and it’s not as seamless — you still need to open the Galaxy Wearable app and tap the earbuds to connect. But it’s nowhere near as annoying as having to enter Bluetooth pairing mode every time.

Galaxy Buds 4 Pro vs Galaxy Buds 4 battery life

No huge improvements or changes here, compared to the previous models.

The Galaxy Buds 4 Pro give you 26 hours total use with ANC on, 30 hours with it off. The buds themselves offer 6 hours and 7 hours of play time, respectively.

The regular Galaxy Buds 4 offer up to a total of 24 hours with ANC and 30 without. From the buds alone, you should be able to squeeze out 5 hours and 6 hours, respectively.

Galaxy Buds 4 Pro vs Galaxy Buds 4: which ones should you get?

The first major choice here is between the in-ear design and the open bud design. While the Buds 4 have ANC, the mere fact that they don’t mechanically seal your ear means they will inevitably let more sound in.

But there are plenty of users out there that actually prefer a design that is not in-ear. I am happy to see that companies are back to offering high-quality models for that niche. For a while there, the market was all about silicone tips, “in-ear or over-ear” approach.

Now, if total silence isn’t your end goal, we have to wonder about that sound quality. I am not ready to write the Buds 4 off just because they have a single driver. However, I do feel that Samsung’s Harman engineers know what they are doing and will have made the Buds 4 Pro sound at least slightly better. But, on that front, wait for the reviews to start coming in. We do have the Buds 4 Pro in the office and like them so far, but need to compare to the Buds 4.

As for general functionality — these earbuds seem to have more or less the same “brain” and set of extra perks. The core Samsung experience should be there on both, specifically if you do have a Samsung phone to pair them to.