Samsung's Clip-On Galaxy Buds On Arrive in the U.S. in Early November for $229

RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J. - Samsung will start selling Galaxy Buds On, its first clip-on, open-ear earbuds, in the United States in early November for $229, Samsung Electronics America said on Wednesday. They come in one color, black. The U.S. launch follows the earbuds’ Oct. 27 release in South Korea, where Samsung priced them at 299,000 won, and comes about six weeks after the buds cleared the FCC.

Galaxy Buds On are meant to be worn alongside the outside world rather than shut it out. Instead of sealing the ear canal, each bud hooks onto the outer ear with a curved band, leaving ambient sound audible. Samsung pitches them as a complement to its in-ear Galaxy Buds4 Pro, for situations such as outdoor runs, and says it drew on more than 119 million ear data points and AI-assisted simulations to shape the band for a secure, low-pressure fit.

Image: Samsung

Each bud weighs 6.65 grams, and Samsung rates battery life at up to 9.5 hours of music playback, or 38 hours in total with the 41-gram charging case. Talk time is up to 5.5 hours per charge. The earbuds use an 11.3-millimeter TwinBoost speaker and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S7 Gen 1 Sound Platform, and connect over Bluetooth 6.2. The buds are rated IP54 for dust and splashes, but the case is not water resistant.

Image: Samsung

Open-ear designs tend to leak sound to people nearby, and Samsung says it is tackling that with Audio Leakage Reduction, which projects reversed sound waves from the rear of the speaker to cancel sound before it travels outward. An automatic volume feature adjusts playback to the noise around the wearer, though Samsung lists it as an experimental Labs feature. For calls, three microphones and a Voice Pickup Unit, a sensor that detects bone and skin vibration when the wearer speaks, work with a machine-learning model trained on noises such as car horns and construction.

Image: Samsung

Most of the hands-free features depend on a Galaxy phone. Saying “Hey Google, let’s talk live” starts a Gemini Live conversation, a long press records a Quick Voice Memo that Bixby can search later, and head gestures let wearers nod to accept a call or shake their head to decline one. On phones running One UI 9.0 or later, the same gestures can dismiss alarms and have notifications read aloud. Galaxy owners can pair the buds by opening the case, without installing the Galaxy Wearable app. The buds work with Android 12 or later, but Samsung says some features may not be available on non-Samsung devices.

Image: Samsung

Screenshot: @Samsung on X

The buds are ambidextrous and detect which ear each one is in, SamMobile reported, and their IP54 rating is lower than the IP57 rating on the Galaxy Buds4 Pro. Buyers in Europe will miss the holiday season: Samsung said the Galaxy Buds On will reach Europe in early 2027, according to SamMobile, which said no European price has been announced.