Galaxy Buds 3 leak shows off a case nearly identical to AirPods Pro

Ben Schoon | Jun 20 2024 - 9:06 am PT

Samsung is gearing up to launch a new pair of Galaxy Buds, with the alleged Galaxy Buds 3 switching up the design to not only look more like AirPods, but even adopt a similar case.

As we’ve heard and seen already, Samsung is switching up the design of its upcoming Galaxy Buds 3. Instead of using the same “bean” design that’s been in place for the past few generations, the company looks to be adding a “stem” to the earbud. This design was first made popular by Apple’s AirPods but is pretty common throughout the industry, with others such as the Nothing Ear also using it.

But what we didn’t know previously was that the case is also changing.

In a post on Twitter/X, @TEQHNIKACROSS shared two images captured from Coupang, a Korean retail website, which show off the case for the Galaxy Buds 3. The case ditches the square-ish design of the past few generations for a rectangle that has a transparent lid to show the two earbuds in place. The stem of each earbud goes down into the case, and the lid opens up horizontally to reveal the earbuds.

It’s a very different design from what Samsung was using previously, but familiar at the same time.

That’s because it looks virtually identical to Apple’s AirPods Pro. The shape of the case and the size of the lid are nearly exactly the same, just with a different color and that aforementioned transparent lid.

Is that a problem? Likely not. Apple’s AirPods cases have long been revered for their compact designs, but it’s certainly interesting to see Samsung going for such a close copy after, for years, coming up with its own unique designs.