"Galaxy Buds or AirPods?" is rarely a question about earbuds. It is a question about phones. Samsung and Apple both design their earbuds to work best — sometimes only fully — with their own handsets, and the most important spec on this page is one that does not appear on either spec sheet: which phone is in your pocket.
That said, the two lineups are not identical, and once you know your phone the spec sheet does matter. Both companies sell three tiers at strikingly similar prices, so this guide matches them up pair by pair, using only the figures in our catalog. Every Mars Score cited here is the live, formula-computed value — see how we score products for exactly how it is calculated.
The short answer
- You have an iPhone: buy AirPods. Specifically the AirPods Pro 3, unless you dislike in-ear tips, in which case the AirPods 4 with ANC.
- You have a Samsung Galaxy phone: buy Galaxy Buds. The Galaxy Buds 3 Pro at the top, the Galaxy Buds FE if price matters most.
- You have another Android phone (Pixel, OnePlus, Xiaomi…): honestly, probably neither. Both lineups give up their best software features off their home platform, and our best wireless earbuds guide has higher-scoring pairs that cost less.
- You switch between a phone and a Windows laptop all day: lean Galaxy Buds — every Galaxy Buds model in our catalog has multipoint; no AirPods model does.
The rest of this guide explains why.
The three matchups at a glance
| Tier | Samsung | Apple | Price (MSRP) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flagship | Galaxy Buds 3 Pro — Mars 73.2 | AirPods Pro 3 — Mars 78.3 | $249 vs $249 |
| Open-fit | Galaxy Buds 3 — Mars 74.4 | AirPods 4 with ANC — Mars 71.1 | $179 vs $179 |
| Budget | Galaxy Buds FE — Mars 73.8 | AirPods Pro 2 (USB-C) — Mars 74.0 | $99 vs $249 |
Two things stand out. First, the flagship and open-fit tiers are priced identically, so this is a straight specification comparison. Second, Apple has no ANC earbud at $99 in our catalog — the cheapest AirPods with noise cancellation here is $179 — so the budget "matchup" is really Samsung's $99 pair against the older Apple flagship that is still sold alongside the new one.
Flagship: Galaxy Buds 3 Pro vs AirPods Pro 3
Full side-by-side: AirPods Pro 3 vs Galaxy Buds 3 Pro.
Both cost $249, both are in-ear designs with active noise cancellation, transparency mode, spatial audio, in-ear detection and wireless charging for the case, and both are rated IP57 — the joint-highest dust and water rating among all earbuds in our catalog. On paper they are remarkably close. The differences:
Battery: AirPods Pro 3 lead, clearly. 8 hours in the buds versus 6, and 30 hours including the case versus 26. That two-hour gap in the buds is the single biggest reason the AirPods Pro 3 score 78.3 against the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro's 73.2 — battery carries 30% of the weight in our earbuds formula, and 6 hours sits near the bottom of the range the formula uses.
Drivers and weight: effectively a draw. 11 mm drivers in the AirPods, 10.5 mm in the Galaxy Buds. 5.3 g per bud versus 5.4 g. Neither difference is something you would notice. Driver size is a spec-sheet proxy for low-end output, not a measure of sound quality, and we treat it that way.
Multipoint: Galaxy Buds 3 Pro only. Samsung's buds can stay connected to two devices at once — your phone and your laptop, say — and take a call on one while playing audio from the other. The AirPods Pro 3 do not support conventional multipoint. Apple's alternative is automatic switching between devices signed into the same Apple Account, which works well across an iPhone, iPad and Mac and not at all with a Windows PC or an Android tablet.
Codecs: neither supports high-bitrate Bluetooth audio in the usual sense. The AirPods Pro 3 list AAC and SBC. The Galaxy Buds 3 Pro list Samsung's own SSC codec plus AAC and SBC. SSC is Samsung's high-resolution codec and it only engages with a Samsung Galaxy phone; on any other phone, the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro fall back to AAC or SBC — the same codecs the AirPods use. If you care about LDAC or aptX on a non-Samsung Android phone, neither of these is your earbud. (Background reading: Bluetooth codecs, LDAC.)
Bluetooth version: 5.4 on the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, 5.3 on the AirPods Pro 3. In practice this changes very little for earbuds; we list it because the data has it, not because it should decide anything.
Verdict: on an iPhone, the AirPods Pro 3 are the better buy — two more hours per charge and deep iOS integration, at the same price. On a Galaxy phone, the decision is closer than the 5-point Mars Score gap suggests: you get SSC, multipoint and Samsung's own software features in exchange for shorter battery life. If you routinely listen for more than six hours straight, that battery gap is the thing to weigh.
Open-fit: Galaxy Buds 3 vs AirPods 4 with ANC
Full side-by-side: AirPods 4 with ANC vs Galaxy Buds 3.
These are the unusual pair: both are open-fit designs — they sit in the outer ear rather than sealing the canal with a silicone tip — and both still claim active noise cancellation. Expect less isolation from either than from a sealed in-ear design; open-fit ANC is necessarily limited because nothing physically blocks the ear canal. Both cost $179.
Battery: Galaxy Buds 3, narrowly. 6 hours in the buds versus 5; 24 hours with the case versus 20.
Weight: AirPods 4, narrowly. 4.3 g per bud is the lightest in our entire earbuds catalog; the Galaxy Buds 3 weigh 4.7 g. For open-fit buds, which rely on ear shape rather than a tip to stay put, a lighter bud can matter for stability.
Water resistance: Galaxy Buds 3. IP57 versus IP54. IP57 survives temporary immersion; IP54 is rated for splashes and sweat. If you run in the rain or are hard on your gear, this is a real difference. See our IP rating explainer.
Multipoint: Galaxy Buds 3 only — the same story as the flagship tier.
Drivers: 11 mm (Galaxy) versus 10 mm (Apple).
Verdict: the Galaxy Buds 3 win this matchup on the spec sheet — longer battery, stronger water resistance, multipoint — and their 74.4 Mars Score beats the AirPods 4's 71.1. But the platform rule still holds. On an iPhone the AirPods 4 integrate better; on a Galaxy phone the Buds 3 are an easy choice.
Budget: Galaxy Buds FE vs AirPods Pro 2 (USB-C)
Full side-by-side: AirPods Pro 2 (USB-C) vs Galaxy Buds FE.
The Galaxy Buds FE are $99 with ANC — the cheapest noise-cancelling pair from either company in our catalog. Their Mars Score of 73.8 is within a fraction of a point of the $249 AirPods Pro 2 (74.0), which is a strong result for the price.
What the FE give up, in our data:
- No wireless charging case. Every other Samsung and Apple model on this page has one.
- No spatial audio.
- IPX2 — the lowest water rating in our earbuds catalog, adequate for light sweat and not much else.
- Bluetooth 5.2, the oldest version on this page.
What they keep: ANC, transparency, multipoint, in-ear detection, 11 mm drivers, and the same 6 hours in the buds as the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro and the AirPods Pro 2, with 30 hours including the case — the same total as the AirPods Pro 2 and more than the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro's 26.
Verdict: on a Galaxy phone, the Galaxy Buds FE are the value pick of this whole comparison. On an iPhone, there is no AirPods equivalent at $99 with ANC; you either stretch to the AirPods 4 with ANC at $179 or look at the cross-platform budget pairs in our earbuds ranking.
Should you buy the older flagships?
Both companies' previous flagships are in our catalog. The AirPods Pro 2 (USB-C) list 6 hours in the buds against the AirPods Pro 3's 8, and IP54 against IP57 — at the same $249 MSRP. Compare them directly: AirPods Pro 2 (USB-C) vs AirPods Pro 3. At list price there is no spec reason to choose the older pair; only buy it if it is substantially discounted.
The Galaxy Buds 2 Pro (Mars 70.9, $229) list 5 hours in the buds and 18 with the case — the shortest case total of any Samsung or Apple pair here — but carry an IPX7 rating. Against the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro (see Galaxy Buds 2 Pro vs Galaxy Buds 3 Pro), the newer model gains an hour in the buds, eight hours in the case and dust protection (IP57 covers dust; IPX7 does not rate it).
The things the spec sheet cannot tell you
We only publish what the data supports, so it is worth being explicit about what this comparison does not measure:
- Noise cancellation strength. Our data records whether a pair has ANC, not how well it works. Every model on this page has ANC; how much they cancel is something only hands-on measurement answers, and we do not have that measurement for these pairs. Our AirPods Pro 3 vs Sony WH-1000XM6 ANC lab shows what that kind of testing looks like.
- Sound signature. Driver size is not sound quality. Tuning, the seal of the tip and the processing matter more.
- Fit. Weight per bud is a useful proxy, but the shape of the shell and the tip sizes in the box matter more. If fit is your main concern, read our guide to the best earbuds for small ears.
- Software features. Head-tracked spatial audio, automatic device switching, hearing features, find-my integration and firmware updates all depend on the phone platform. These are often the real reason to buy into one ecosystem, and none of them shows up as a number.
How to decide, in four questions
- Which phone do you use? This answers the question for most people. iPhone → AirPods. Galaxy → Galaxy Buds. Other Android → look beyond both.
- Do you need two devices connected at once? If yes and you are not all-in on Apple devices, only the Galaxy Buds offer multipoint.
- How long do you listen in one sitting? If regularly more than six hours, the AirPods Pro 3's 8-hour figure is the strongest battery on this page.
- Do you dislike in-ear tips? Then compare the two open-fit models, and accept less isolation.
Where to go next
- The full ranking of every pair we track: wireless earbuds.
- The ten highest-scoring earbuds overall, from both lineups and beyond: best wireless earbuds in 2026.
- Same-brand upgrades: Galaxy Buds 3 vs Galaxy Buds 3 Pro.
- How every number on this page was calculated: how we score products.
Prices are manufacturer list prices (MSRP) in USD as recorded in our catalog; retail prices vary and are frequently lower. vsMars does not sell earbuds and earns nothing from your choice.
Turn this reading into a better product decision
This buying guide is a decision framework, not a substitute for checking the exact variant, regional price, availability, and warranty that apply to you. Use the linked catalog data to separate published facts from personal priorities, then compare the final shortlist directly rather than relying on a generic ranking.
Verify the fit
Open the Wireless Earbuds category page to filter the relevant field, then inspect full product profiles and the score methodology.
Keep the recommendation current
This article references 7 catalog products; use the live product pages for current specifications and comparison links.
vsMars keeps editorial judgment, normalized Mars Score inputs, and affiliate links separate. If a detail is missing or out of date, report it so the catalog and this article can be corrected.