Samsung S10 could launch alongside Galaxy Buds built to grapple the AirPods from your ears

Is this true wireless usurper set to be another Samsung Unpacked winner?

Samsung Galaxy Buds
Duncan Bell
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Samsung Unpacked is looming and the Samsung Galaxy S10 and most likely the foldable Samsung Galaxy X will be revealed in all their considerable glory.

But, like Craig compared to the Goss brother in Bros,  Unpacked is not just about the flashy, sexy, slightly dim main events. There will also be more workmanlike yet no less important things to see and try. Like, for instance, the Samsung Galaxy Buds, the latest pair of true wireless buds from the Korean laundry-to-smart-alarms mega corp.

According to Sammobile, Samsung has lined up a new pair of true wireless, Apple AirPod-style buds that have just received certification for Bluetooth 5.0, which is a bit like when you get a swimming certificate for swimming very well in your pyjamas, but for wireless communication.

Samsung is now merrily rebranding all of its mobile devices as 'Galaxy', so it's time to bid adieu to 'Gear IconX' which was, to be fair, not a great name, especially if you tried to pronounce 'Iconx' out loud, as it just sounded like 'Iconks'.

IconX was Samsung's last stab at a pair of true wireless buds. While the obvious enemy here is Apple's all-conquering AirPods, the form factor was more along the lines of T3's favourite, Jabra's Elite 65. We assume that will be the case for the follow-up.

Hopefully Samsung will rely on its Galaxy Watch Sport (or Galaxy Active, as it may come to be called) and Galaxy Fit bands or Galaxy SmartShoes for harvesting fitness data. The aforementioned Gear Iconks insisted on trying to track your steps, or distance on a run and the result was a pair of audio headphones that was way more hassle than anyone rational wants to put up with. The IconX's overtly chunky size – caused by including movement sensors and onboard storage, presumably – also meant the fit was something less than comfy.

Regrettably, it appears that Samsung definitely wants to persist with the idea of having on-board storage, with the Galaxy Buds – officially known as SM-R170. So there's 8GB of internal storage that you'll never use, if you own a phone or other device capable of containing music and transferring it to headphones via Bluetooth.

The Galaxy Buds will be available in black, white, and yellow and we assume they'll either get a cursory mention at Samsung Unpacked, or be released some time soon after. 

Duncan Bell
Duncan Bell

Duncan is the former lifestyle editor of T3 and has been writing about tech for almost 15 years. He has covered everything from smartphones to headphones, TV to AC and air fryers to the movies of James Bond and obscure anime. His current brief is everything to do with the home and kitchen, which is good because he is an excellent cook, if he says so himself. He also covers cycling and ebikes – like over-using italics, this is another passion of his. In his long and varied lifestyle-tech career he is one of the few people to have been a fitness editor despite being unfit and a cars editor for not one but two websites, despite being unable to drive. He also has about 400 vacuum cleaners, and is possibly the UK's leading expert on cordless vacuum cleaners, despite being decidedly messy. A cricket fan for over 30 years, he also recently become T3's cricket editor, writing about how to stream obscure T20 tournaments, and turning out some typically no-nonsense opinions on the world's top teams and players.

Before T3, Duncan was a music and film reviewer, worked for a magazine about gambling that employed a surprisingly large number of convicted criminals, and then a magazine called Bizarre that was essentially like a cross between Reddit and DeviantArt, before the invention of the internet. There was also a lengthy period where he essentially wrote all of T3 magazine every month for about 3 years. 

A broadcaster, raconteur and public speaker, Duncan used to be on telly loads, but an unfortunate incident put a stop to that, so he now largely contents himself with telling people, "I used to be on the TV, you know."

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