Odi Productions
In this article, I’m going to share my HONEST Apple AirPods Pro 3 vs Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro comparison, as someone who has purchased both pairs of earbuds with my own money.
I’ve conducted thorough testing of both wireless earbuds, and I will break down a winner for each category including:
- Comfort and Fit
- Features
- Battery Life
- Microphone Quality
- Noise Cancelling Performance
- Sound Quality
- Value
I’ll be sharing my critical opinion with 10 years of experience as a professional music producer, audio engineer, and tech journalist. I also run the RecordingNOW YouTube channel with over 18,000+ subscribers and over 4 million+ views, where you can watch the video versions of all of our reviews and comparisons.
Let’s dive right in!
Apple AirPods Pro 3rd generation vs Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro Comparison in Short
The newer Apple AirPods Pro 3rd Generation is the superior product across the board compared to the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, but it’s still fairly competitive. The Galaxy Buds 3 Pro has the advantage in comfort and being slightly cheaper. Overall, this decision may actually boil down to which ecosystem you’re currently in: Apple or Android.
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Comfort, Features, Microphone Quality, and Battery Life
Comfort
The Apple AirPods Pro 3 comes with 5 pairs of foam-infused silicone eartips.
The Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Pro comes with 3 pairs of soft silicone eartips.
Overall, I prefer the comfort of the Galaxy Buds3 Pro over the AirPods Pro 3, which feels closer to the regular AirPods line of “open” earbuds (like the AirPods 4 ANC) due to the eartips not having to penetrate as deeply into the ear canal.
Don’t get me wrong, Apple improved the overall ergonomics and made the AirPods Pro 3 more form-fitting than before. I can wear them for a couple hours without issue.
That said, I do have to press them in more forcefully than the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, which creates their physical seal easier and without entering the ear canal as deeply.
Features
The biggest difference between these two is that the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro does not have a native iOS app for iPhone users, while the AirPods Pro 3 do not have a native app for Android users.
This isn’t a complete dealbreaker, as I’ve tested both products on the opposing operating systems and they work perfectly fine. It just means that things like firmware updates and customizing controls are limited to their native operating systems, but the devices still function with default settings and controls.
Both the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro and AirPods Pro 3 are rated at an impressive IP57 rating (submersible in water and rain).
The AirPods Pro 3 has more unique features including heart rate sensors for fitness and health tracking, “Live Translation”, and doubles as a clinical-grade hearing aid.
Neither earbuds currently support the “mainstream” high-res codecs of LDAC or aptX Adaptive, but the AirPods Pro 3 supports a proprietary “SPR-AVS” lossless audio that requires an iPhone 17 or Apple Vision Pro, and the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro supports “SSC” or Samsung Seamless Codec.
Microphone Quality
One advantage that the newer AirPods Pro 3 has over the Galaxy Buds3 Pro is microphone quality.
The Galaxy Buds3 Pro actually has above average mic quality in its own right, but the AirPods Pro 3 makes a case for the #1 in mic quality for the wireless earbud class entirely.
The AirPods Pro 3 is simply the best at isolating the human voice against background noise and wind, while maintaining a natural quality to the voice.
Battery Life
AirPods Pro 3 Battery Life
- With ANC on: 8 hours of battery life on a single charge / 24 hours total with charging case
- With ANC off: 10 hours on a single charge / 24 hours total with charging case
- Fast Charge: 20 minutes = 2 hours of playback
Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro Battery Life
- With ANC on: 6 hours of battery life on a single charge / 26 hours total with charging case
- With ANC off: 7 hours on a single charge / 30 hours total with charging case
- Fast Charge: 5 minutes = 1 hour of playback
The AirPods Pro 3 has a decent battery life advantage over the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro.
AirPods Pro 3 Score: 9.5 out of 10
Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro Score: 9.0 out of 10
Winner: AirPods Pro 3
AirPods Pro 3 vs Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro Noise Cancelling Performance Compared
Now here is where the deeper ear canal penetration of the AirPods Pro 3 serves as an advantage over the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro.
Although the Samsung is more comfortable, the AirPods Pro 3 starts with more passive noise isolation due to a strong physical seal.
Then when you add in the improved active noise cancelling technology of the newer AirPods Pro 3, it is noticeably improved over the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro which was originally meant to compete with the AirPods Pro 2 instead.
Apple claims the AirPods Pro 3 has twice the noise cancelling of the previous AirPods Pro 2, and I would now put the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro’s ANC somewhere in between them.
The AirPods Pro 3 has helped Apple to get back near the top for noise cancelling performance, although there are a couple competitors that I think are slightly better such as the Sony WF-1000XM6 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds 2nd Gen.
Other those two, however, the AirPods Pro 3 is one of the best options for ANC available today.
Both earbuds have Transparency Mode which works quite well and sounds pretty natural.
AirPods Pro 3 Score: 9.0 out of 10
Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro Score: 8.0 out of 10
Winner: AirPods Pro 3
Sound Quality
Considering that these are two of the most popular and arguably “de facto” premium choices for each respective ecosystem (that being Apple and Android), I’m actually fairly impressed with how far their sound quality has come along in 3 generations.
Starting with the 1 year older Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, I was pleasantly surprised by how I preferred the sound quality to the nicely-tuned AirPods Pro 2 it was meant to contend with.
I’m a fan of the AirPods Pro 2’s sound profile, but found the Galaxy Buds3 Pro to be higher fidelity as a whole, and a bit more fun to listen to.
Starting with sound profiles, the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro has the more consumer-friendly tuning versus the AirPods Pro 3.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I’d say the AirPods Pro 3 is a little more audiophile in that sense.
The Galaxy Buds3 Pro is lively and fun to listen to for very modern genres, while I find the AirPods Pro 3 to be a better all-arounder for all genres.
When comparing the audiophile technicalities, I do hear more details, resolution, separation, and layering in the AirPods Pro 3.
Both earbuds have satisfying bass, but I think the AirPods Pro 3’s is cleaner while also managing to have fuller mids for vocals and instruments.
Overall, although I enjoy listening to both, I still think there’s a tier of true “audiophile” earbuds above them.
As for the head to head, I give it to the AirPods Pro 3.
AirPods Pro 3 Score: 8.2 out of 10
Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro Score: 7.9 out of 10
Winner: AirPods Pro 3
Value
The AirPods Pro 3rd Generation retails at $249 USD, but is currently available for $229 market price brand new.
The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro retails at a similar $249.99 USD, but is now found between $179 and $199 market price brand new.
Overall, you are getting what you pay for with each product.
Pay a little more for the AirPods Pro 3, and you receive better noise cancelling, mic quality, and slightly better sound quality.
That said, the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro is still an excellent choice for Android users, and is fairly competitive in every category, with superior comfort IMO.
AirPods Pro 3 Value Score: 8.5 out of 10
Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro Value Score: 8.5 out of 10
Winner: Tie
Overall Scoring Breakdown
- World-class noise cancelling performance
- One of the most comfortable fits
- Excellent microphone quality
- Decent sound quality
- There’s better pure sound quality options
- No native Android app
- Amazing comfort and fit
- Strong noise cancelling performance
- Fun sound profile
- Relatively good value
- No native iOS or Apple support
- No high-res codec support
- Not audiophile-level sound quality
Our Verdict: Apple AirPods Pro 3
The AirPods Pro 3 takes back the crown… for now.
I was pleasantly surprised with the Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro at its release, and prefer it in many ways to the solid daily-driver AirPods Pro 2.
But the AirPods Pro 3 has improved in every way from its predecessor, which is enough to also beat the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro in every category but pure comfort.
To be honest, a lot of this choice may boil down to which ecosystem you’re in: Apple or Android. They both work on any OS, but they just work a little better within their native ecosystems they were built for.
That said, the next-generation Galaxy Buds 4 Pro was just announced at the time of this writing, which I have full confidence will shake up this head-to-head between Apple and Samsung very soon…
Lastly, if you’d like to save some money and keep supporting RecordingNOW.com’s 100% independent, unbiased reviews, do consider using some of our affiliate links below to shop and even just compare prices. We purchase all products we review with our own money to maintain the highest level of integrity, and your support goes into that plus a continuously improving site experience.
Order HERE for the LOWEST PRICE AVAILABLE (Do NOT pay retail):
Disclosure: These affiliate links may provide a discount and in return, give us a commission in order to keep this website 100% independent to ensure honest unfiltered reviews 🙂
How We Tested and Our Methodology
RecordingNOW.com is a 100% independent publisher with over 10 years of experience testing and reviewing consumer electronics and headphones.
We currently purchase the products we test with our own money, and are not paid by any company or manufacturer to influence our opinions or decisions.
After purchasing the product, we conduct up to hundreds of hours of detailed hands-on testing in a controlled, acoustically-treated environment.
ODi Productions is our resident expert and author of this article, with 10 years of experience as a professional music producer, tech journalist, and audiophile.
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