After skipping a Fan Edition for the Galaxy Buds 2, Samsung has introduced its new Galaxy Buds 3 FE, which ditches the more traditional Samsung look for a stem design that screams ‘Apple’. As you might’ve expected, it’s brought Galaxy AI along for the ride, alongside the usual upgrades to audio and battery.
The Buds 3 FE are scheduled to arrive in the US on 4 September 2025, with no word on a local launch yet. There will probably be a local launch.
The Apple doesn’t fall far from the stem
Handling the audio side are 11 mm drivers Samsung reckons are up for the challenge of delivering crisper audio and a deeper bass profile that was lacking in the previous iteration. More mics — six of ’em — placed strategically around the buds provide better audio during voice calls, helped by Galaxy AI, which isolates your voice. AAC, SBS, and SSC codecs are also supported.
Samsung has apparently upped the Buds’ ANC capabilities, promising… no specific features that’ll convince you otherwise. SamMobile, at least, reckons that the buds have seen a significant upgrade, offering to suppress surrounding noise by 32dB — a major improvement over the original Buds FE.
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Hold onto that ANC, and Samsung says you’ll get up to 6 hours out of the Buds 3 FE, with a further 18 tucked away in the case (515mAh). Keep it off, and that’ll extend up to 8.5 hours and 30 hours, respectively. These should survive a quick splash with Samsung’s IP54 rating, but we’d still be cautious about letting that water get too close.
It remains to be seen whether the Galaxy Buds 3 FE will compete with its older sibling in terms of pure pricing, whose appeal lies in the R1,000 price tag (and half-decent feature set). Samsung’s hitched a $150 (∼R2,600) price to the buds in the US, but how that’ll translate locally is still uncertain. It should, at least, come in cheaper than the Buds 3, which cost R3,500 at today’s prices.
