Galaxy Buds On is Samsung’s first clip-on, open-ear earbud. It hooks onto the outer ear and leaves the ear canal open. Korean owners like the fit; their main complaints are sound leakage and the missing ANC. As of October 29, 2026, two days after the Korean launch, I found 9 owner posts. None came from an iPhone user, and a recheck on October 30 still found none.
I haven’t worn the Buds On. I use AirPods Pro 2 with an iPhone, so what Korean buyers say below comes from Naver café and blog posts I read and counted, not from my own ears.
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What are Korean owners saying about Galaxy Buds On?
Early owner posts are mostly positive about fit (5 of 9) and mixed on sound. Two flag leakage, two miss ANC, and nobody had reported using it with an iPhone.
| Topic | Posts (of 9) |
|---|---|
| Fit stays put or comfortable | 5 |
| Fit awkward or tight | 2 |
| Sound quality good | 3 |
| Sound below expectations | 1 |
| Sound leakage | 2 |
| Misses ANC | 2 |
| Battery longer than Buds 4 | 1 |
| Gestures hard to use | 1 |
| Tested on iPhone | 0 |
One post can count toward more than one topic.
Interest in Korea is large and still rising. Naver’s keyword tool showed 76,000 monthly searches for “갤럭시버즈온” (Galaxy Buds On) on October 29 and 85,800 on October 30 (21,600 PC, 64,200 mobile). The Korean query for “Buds On iPhone” got about 10 a month. So few Korean searches mention the iPhone that the missing iPhone reports are no surprise.
How I counted the Korean posts
I kept only posts from people who had bought and received the earbuds. I dropped spec summaries, sales promotions, store demo impressions, questions, and AI-style Q&A answers, the same filter I used for 27 Korean iPhone Duo owner posts.
Eight posts came from Naver cafés and one from a Naver blog, all dated October 27 to 29, 2026. Two of the 9 were an unboxing and a coupon serial-number glitch, so they say little about sound or fit.
Fit and sound leakage in the first owner posts
Fit is the strongest early signal. Five owners say the Buds On stays put or stays comfortable for hours, while 2 found the clip tight or strange. Samsung lists each earbud at 6.65 g.
Korean posts say it doesn’t fall out when you shake your head. One café owner wrote that it caused no pain compared with Shokz. Another called the pressure strong but the hold secure, a matter of taste.
Leakage came up in 2 of 9 posts. One owner named it the biggest drawback. Another wrote that at high volume the sound carries outside easily. Samsung says its Audio Leakage Reduction plays reversed sound waves from the back of the speaker to cut escaping sound. Those two owners suggest it doesn’t fully solve the problem at high volume.
I can’t judge leakage myself. I have never owned an open-ear or bone-conduction earbud, only in-ears.
My reason for watching this category is fatigue. With the stock M tips on my AirPods Pro 2, wearing them more than about two hours pressed on the cartilage in my left ear. Switching the left tip to S pushed that to about three hours. I wear them five to seven hours a day in total, mostly in one- to two-hour stretches. An ear clip that never sits inside the canal would remove that problem by design.
Do Galaxy Buds On work with iPhone?
It should play audio over Bluetooth, but Samsung doesn’t list iPhone support, and the extras are tied to Galaxy phones. Samsung’s US announcement (October 28, 2026) gives compatibility as Android 12 or higher with more than 1.5 GB of memory. It adds that some features may not be available on non-Samsung devices. The codec list includes AAC, the codec iPhones use for Bluetooth audio.
The same page spells out what depends on a Galaxy phone:
- Quick Voice Memo needs a Galaxy AI device plus the Samsung Voice Recorder and Bixby apps.
- Head Gestures are off by default and are set up in the phone’s settings on One UI 8.5 or later.
- Galaxy users don’t install Galaxy Wearable at all. They open the case to connect, then change volume or EQ from the Buds shortcut in the Quick Panel.
- Auto Volume is a Labs feature: Advanced features > Labs > Auto Volume, on One UI 8.5 or later.
None of those menus exist on an iPhone. Korean blogs list the same three gaps (settings, head gestures, Quick Voice Memo), but no owner had tried it on an iPhone yet.
I hit the same wall with an older Samsung model. A colleague lent me his Buds2 Pro for one day, and on the way home I paired it with my iPhone. On the subway, I kept brushing my hair back and long-pressing the earbud by accident. Each time, noise canceling switched modes. The menu that changes or turns off the long-press action lived only in Galaxy Wearable, so I was stuck with the default.
That was one evening, not months of use. It did reinforce why I stayed with AirPods on my iPhone, which is now the iPhone 18 Pro I’ve used since September.
Price and release dates by market
In Korea it costs ₩299,000 and went on sale October 27, 2026, in black only. In the US, Samsung lists it at $229 in black from early November 2026.
| Market | Price | Release | Status (October 30, 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Korea | ₩299,000 | 2026-10-27 | On sale |
| US | $229 | Early November 2026 | Announced |
| Europe | — | — | Not announced |
| Japan | — | — | Not announced |
Source for the US row: Samsung US Newsroom, October 28, 2026.
I checked the Samsung Korea product page on October 29, 2026. It listed ₩299,000 in a single black color. A Korean café post cited ₩286,000 on Coupang on October 28, a price that may change. Store demo units weren’t out at the shop I visited, and I couldn’t find an independent English-language hands-on review yet.
No ANC: what it means on a Seoul subway
The Buds On has no active noise canceling. Two of 9 Korean owners missed it, and 1 of 9 found play and pause gestures hard, though answering calls was easy. On battery, one owner said it lasts longer than their Buds 4. Nobody reported connection drops in my search.
Samsung’s spec sheet lists up to 9.5 hours of music per charge (38 hours with the case), up to 5.5 hours of calls (25 with the case), and IP54 for the earbuds only. The case isn’t water resistant.
My closest test of life without ANC was on AirPods Pro 2, not the Buds On. My commute is about 50 minutes each way on the Seoul subway, and I keep noise canceling on underground. Last month I turned it off for one ride to hear a podcast. Volume that is enough at 40 to 50 percent with ANC had to go to about 65 percent before I could follow the talk. After about 10 minutes my ears felt dull and tired, and I turned ANC back on.
Those were sealed in-ear tips. An open ear lets in more train noise, so I’d expect the volume to climb higher, which is exactly when Korean owners say it leaks.
Who should skip Galaxy Buds On, and how does it compare to Buds4 Pro or Shokz OpenFit?
I’d buy it as a second pair, not as my only earbuds, judging from the design and price.
At ₩299,000 it is ₩60,000 below the ₩359,000 Apple Store price of my AirPods Pro 2 when I bought them in late 2023. If I could own only one pair, I would skip it. As an extra for three-hour work blocks, it fits my ear problem.
I wouldn’t recommend it if you have a long subway commute, sit close to coworkers, or want one pair for everything.
In the US the Buds4 Pro is $249 with ANC and the Buds4 is $179 (Samsung US Newsroom), so with the Buds On you trade ANC for an open ear. One Korean owner noted the case design resembles the Buds 4 and supports wireless charging.
Against Shokz OpenFit, one owner reported less pain with the Buds On. That is a single report, so treat it as a lead, not a verdict.
Sources
- Samsung Brings Galaxy Buds On to the US, Samsung US Newsroom, October 28, 2026 (checked October 30, 2026): US price and release, compatibility, codecs, Audio Leakage Reduction, Quick Voice Memo and Head Gestures requirements, battery, weight and IP54
- Samsung unveils Galaxy Buds4 series, Samsung US Newsroom, February 25, 2026: Buds4 and Buds4 Pro US prices, ANC on Buds4 Pro
- Galaxy Buds On launch report, Financial News (Korean), October 20, 2026: Korean price ₩299,000, October 27 release, black only
- Naver searches (October 29 and 30, 2026; café, blog and Knowledge iN queries for Galaxy Buds On reviews, fit, iPhone, ANC, battery, connection drops, price) and the Naver Search Ad keyword tool (October 29 and 30, 2026): the 9 owner posts and monthly search volume