Exclusive: Galaxy Buds On Design and Features Revealed

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The Galaxy Buds On (internally codenamed Able) have been rumored for a while now. Icons of the mysterious new pair of clip-on earbuds have surfaced in a recent One UI release. But we hadn’t actually seen the device itself outside of some flat vector icons and a set of app assets. Well, at least until now.

This is an APK teardown, which means some features and details could change in the future.

Here’s how the Galaxy Buds On look

The Galaxy Buds On have a unique design, with two rounded bulbs connected by what appears to be a silicone loop. The larger side is meant to sit inside the concha, the bowl-shaped part of the ear. Meanwhile, the flat end clips onto the outside of the ear, with a concave touch surface.

The only image of them we have so far shows the black colourway. However, a version of the Buds Manager app we’ve obtained suggests there’s also a white variant in the works.

We do, however, have some tip images showing how the Buds On are meant to be worn, along with some of their features. As described above, the flatter part of the earbud sits on the outside of the ear. The rounder bulb, which houses the drivers, goes on the inside.

New features set for the Galaxy Buds On

The Buds On will also get nod and shake gestures, which were first introduced with the Buds 4 and Buds 4 Pro. Sadly, 360 audio with head tracking appears to have been left out of these buds.

There’s also a new featured labeled Auto Volume. According to strings found in the app, it can increase the volume in noisier environments and bring it back down when things get quieter. There’s also a Volume Boost feature. As the name suggests, it can force the earbuds to play louder, although that comes with an increased risk of sound leakage.

The tips also highlight the ability to wake your AI assistant of choice, either Gemini or Bixby, with just your voice or a touch gesture. You can also start a new voice memo with a similar gesture, letting you get your ideas down straight away before you forget them.

Those voice recordings are then transcribed, and you can summon Bixby to search through those recordings. This feature requires you to be on One UI 8.5 or newer.

If you set up touch and hold controls as a voice recorder app, you can quickly start and stop voice recorder with your earbuds. Recorded voice memos are automatically converted to text, and you can call Bixby to search by voice without needing to take out your phone.

Diving deeper into the app, there’s also a new Pause media while you’re asleep feature. This pauses whatever music, podcast, or rain noises are currently playing once your phone detects you’re asleep. However, this requires One UI 9.0 or newer.

Additionally, there’s no sign of active noise cancellation on the Galaxy Buds On. That’s a significant change from Samsung’s last set of open earbuds, the Galaxy Buds Live.

The Galaxy Buds On are shaping up to be an exciting option for those who don’t like in-ear earbuds. Samsung is taking a different approach here. And we might not have long to wait. We’ve already spotted the Buds Able clearing India’s BIS certification under model number SM-U600, along with firmware sitting on Samsung’s internal servers in India, Korea, Vietnam and Malaysia. Rumors point to a Q4 2026 launch.