Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro review – Richer Sound, Better ANC, But Is It Worth the Money?

The successor to last year’s Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, the new Galaxy Buds 4 Pro was launched alongside the Galaxy S26 series at the recent Galaxy Unpacked 2026 launch. Packing Samsung’s best tech and factoring in customer feedback, the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro enjoys quite a few ergonomic tweaks and hardware improvements to keep it ahead of the pack.

We managed to get our hands on a sample at its local launch. After taking it for a spin over the holidays, here’s our Galaxy Buds 4 Pro review where we share if it is a worthy successor to the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro.

Galaxy Buds 4 Pro Review – Build and Design

Last year’s Galaxy Buds 3 Pro had a slim charging case and narrow, rounded control stems, or ‘blades’ as Samsung refers to them. While the Buds 3 Pro’s charging case made it very pocketable and easy to open one-handed, the design of the Buds 3 Pro’s control stems on its earbuds occasionally made it hard to pinch especially with slippery or sweaty hands.

In the case of the new Galaxy Buds 4 Pro, Samsung has gone for a redesign, opting for a chunky make-up compact-style case that has a more prominent and transparent top lid.

While it seems like aesthetic frippery, the see-through top lid ensures that you can visually check if the earbuds are properly stowed away which minimises the chances of you losing them. Unfortunately, the chunkier design makes it harder to pocket and open one-handed. 

On the bright side, the charging case retains wireless charging support and can be charged via reverse wireless charging on the back of most Samsung Galaxy series phones like the Galaxy S26 series.

The earbuds of the new Galaxy Buds 4 Pro also enjoy a redesign, featuring more angular, squared off stems that make it much easier to press and also ditches the blinged up notification lights of the previous model.

The Galaxy Buds 4 Pro also has IP57 dust and water resistance for its earbuds which means they can survive a metre of fresh water for up to 30 minutes though the charging case is not protected from the elements; both ratings are akin to its predecessor. 

Rather than slapping a metallic finish on everything, our Galaxy Buds 4 Pro review unit goes for a matte white finish with subtler metallic hints on its control stem along with a semi-transparent top lid on the charging case which makes it look classier and more premium.

@hitechcentury Unboxing the new Samsung Galaxy Buds4 Pro in white! @Samsung Malaysia #galaxyunpacked #galaxybuds4pro #hitechcentury #learnontiktok ♬ Elegant and gentle, Boccellini’s Menuet – Kohrogi

Out of the box, Samsung only provides a set of smaller and larger ear tips with a pair of medium ones preinstalled and lacks a charging cable, which may be an inconvenience to first-time buyers.

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro Review – Performance

On top of an aesthetic makeover, the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro comes with several upgrades under the hood, featuring a wider 11mm woofer versus the 10.5mm model in last year’s model while keeping to the same 5.5mm tweeters. 

In addition, the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro has slightly larger batteries in each earbud and in the charging case for longer battery life. The new model also has the ability to support head gestures to take or cancel calls and has updated Bluetooth 6.1 support. In comparison, the older model features the older Bluetooth 5.4 and lacks head gesture support. 

On top of the usual SBC and AAC codecs, the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro also supports Samsung’s Seamless Codec (SSC), enabling 24-bit/96kHz audio playback. That said, this is only available when paired with select Samsung Galaxy devices running One UI 6.1.1 or newer, and requires genuinely high-resolution audio sources.

Additional upgrades include an Adaptive Noise Canceling 2.0 algorithm that can adjust the level of noise cancelling in a more intelligent fashion based on ambient noise levels, a Voice Detect feature that dials down music volume when it hears you talk as well as Spatial Audio support.

The controls are fairly standard and playback on our Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro review sample is via a combination of pinch actions on either earbud which allows you to pause, play and control music playback and take calls. To control volume, you simply have to pinch and stroke up or down on either control stem.

What makes it brilliant is its support for voice controls though they aren’t activated by default and need to be toggled on in the Samsung Wearable app. You can also control what the ‘pinch and hold’ gesture does with support for Bixby, Gemini, Perplexity AI assistants and to also activate Samsung’s Interpreter app for conversational and live translations.

One particularly standout feature are, the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro’s voice controls that come in handy especially when your hands are otherwise occupied such as when you’re driving or carrying groceries.

Fortunately, they don’t need a trigger word and you can simply say ‘Volume Up’, ‘Volume Down’, ‘Play music’, ‘Stop music’ and ‘Next song’ and ‘Previous song’ to control playback. It would have been nice if we could assign specific words for these actions like ‘rewind’ or ‘next track’ to further customise these commands; hopefully these features can be added in future updates. 

Getting our Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro review sample up and running is an effortless affair, especially if you own a Samsung phone. When tested, it paired up with our Galaxy S26 Ultra test sample in seconds.

From there on in, you’re able to use the Samsung Wearable app to control most of its settings and also tweak its equaliser and noise cancellation settings to taste.

If you own a non-Samsung phone, you’ll have to jump through a few more hoops including manually having to search and pair up the earbuds with the phone via Bluetooth and installing the Samsung Wearable app but that’s to be expected.

In terms of sound quality, Samsung’s flagship earbuds on its default stock settings were able to offer lively treble, good mids and thumpy bass, ensuring tracks like Bear McCreary’s ‘Prelude to War’ were handled well, with tight, full-bodied bass that still kept the mids clean and clear.

Vocals were handled well with Joanna Wang’s lustrous vocals brought to the fore and sounding exquisite in her cover of ‘Vincent’. When tested with other genres, including pop, metal and classic music, it was able to give a good accounting of itself.

When it comes to active noise cancellation, the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro offered slightly better performance than its predecessor which ensures that it remains competitive with the best in its class.

When dialled to maximum, our Galaxy Buds 4 Pro review sample was able to mute out persistent background noises like the rumbling of a train, the engine noise of a plane or the background activity in a mall to a blissfully low murmur.

Sharper noises like tannoy announcements, shouts or clattering cutlery still cut through the noise cancelling though. If you find the effect a bit too strong, you’re able to dial it back in the Samsung Wearable app.

Call quality was excellent and even in the middle of downtown Bukit Bintang during rush hour or a busy night market, voices were clear and audible on both sides of the call without interference or background noise.

In terms of battery life, the earbuds are officially rated for 6 hours of playback with ANC on and an additional 20 hours if you factor in its charging case. In actual field conditions, our Galaxy Buds 4 Pro review unit achieved close to these scores and was able to comfortably last a week on the commute before needing a top-up on the weekend. 

Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro?

On its own merits, the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro are premium workhorse earbuds, offering excellent sound and call quality paired with good noise cancellation capabilities, improved comfort and voice controls. However, it requires a Samsung Galaxy phone to achieve its fullest potential. 

While the upgrades in the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro over its predecessor the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro aren’t groundbreaking, they are meaningful across the board. If you’re coming from an older pair and are already invested in Samsung’s ecosystem, the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro remains an easy recommendation as the brand’s most refined earbuds to date.

Specifications
Price RM999
Drivers Two way Dynamic Driver 11mm dynamic driver (Woofer) + 5.5 mm planar tweeter
Connectivity Bluetooth V5.4 w/ A2DP, AVRCP, HFP, PBP, TMAP / LE Audio
Battery 61mAh (earbuds), 6 hours (ANC on)  /530mAh (charging case) 26 hours (ANC on)
Connectivity Bluetooth 6.1
Size/Weight 51 x 51 x 28.3mm / 5.1g (earbuds) 44.3g (case)

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro review sample courtesy of Samsung Malaysia. For more details please visit https://www.samsung.com/my/audio-sound/galaxy-buds/galaxy-buds4-pro-white-sm-r640nzwaxme/