Samsung's new Galaxy Buds 3 Pro have undergone a major overhaul, giving them a look similar to AirPods and numerous other stemmed earphones. My impressions so far have been pretty positive, with a full review coming soon. But even before the earbuds' public launch on July 24, first-time buyers have encountered frustrating issues. Samsung has temporarily halted shipments of the new "Galaxy Buds 3 Pro" to retail stores following complaints about quality control. The first customers to receive the wireless earbuds ahead of the public launch on July 24 reported that the earbuds were fragile and would break easily when removed.
The suspension was confirmed in a statement to eSIM STUDIOS, where Samsung said it had "temporarily halted deliveries of Galaxy Buds 3 Pro devices to our distribution channels" to conduct quality inspections before shipping the products to customers. The company said it "sincerely apologizes for any inconvenience caused" and urged customers who have already received the earphones to contact Samsung support or visit their nearest Samsung service center.
Amazon stopped selling the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro prior to this official confirmation, while Samsung postponed the release date to August 28 on its website. Samsung had already issued a statement apologizing for product quality control issues to its domestic Korean market.
The earplugs seem to be very fragile and can break easily if you are not careful. We did some research and found that Samsung recommends that customers remove the earphones properly without tearing them.
With the move to an AirPods-like design, Samsung has adopted a similar mechanism for attaching the tips. The tips fit into the body of the earbuds with a proprietary ring of hard plastic that fuses with the soft silicone that goes in your ear. However, sometimes the silicone can come off when you try to remove the tips, leaving the plastic stuck to the earbuds.
Most people don't remove their earbuds very often after they've got the right size, except for the occasional cleaning. But it would certainly be annoying if one ripped while testing the fit of one of Samsung's three included sets. I haven't had any issues with my test pair so far, but there are plenty of reports from people who haven't been so lucky.
This page on Samsung's Korean help site warns that the earbuds may crack if handled roughly and recommends how to remove them: Fold the earbuds and pull them out carefully. The company warns against using your fingernails.
We've reached out to Samsung for comment on the situation. We hope this is just some unfortunate accident that comes with learning this new design and not a case of the company skimping on materials. It may only be a matter of time before Comply or other earbud makers offer their own alternatives to Samsung's standard earbuds, but for now it's important to be careful as replacing these proprietary earbuds isn't all that easy.