The Samsung Galaxy Buds4 Pro are $244.99 at Amazon, which is $5.00 under the $249.99 Samsung charges for the same black SKU on its own store. The listing is also $2.61 higher than it was a day earlier, so this price moved up rather than down.
Each earbud carries a two-way speaker, a wider woofer paired with a planar tweeter, and a separate amplifier for each driver. The 24-bit, 96kHz audio Samsung leads with, however, only switches on when the paired handset is a Galaxy.
A $5 gap, and a price that rose
Samsung's own buy page lists the Galaxy Buds4 Pro in Black, SKU SM-R640NZKAXAR, at $249.99 and in stock. The page's embedded product data gives that same figure twice, as both the MSRP and the current price, across Black, White and Pink Gold.
Samsung, in other words, is running no promotion of its own here. The whole gap between the two stores is $5.00, or two percent.
Amazon prints an 18 percent savings badge on the listing and publishes no list price beside it. A badge that size implies a reference near $299, and no such figure appears on either store.
A price check on this exact listing on October 18 recorded $242.38. The current $244.99 sits $2.61 above that, so the earbuds are slightly dearer than they were, not cheaper.
Amazon is both seller and shipper, and the listing reads In Stock with no marketplace reseller on the buy box. Nothing in the listing flags a low stock count or a Prime-only price.
Samsung Galaxy Buds4 Pro specifications
| Specification | Samsung Galaxy Buds4 Pro |
|---|---|
| Speakers | Enhanced 2-way, woofer plus planar tweeter, dual amplifier |
| Audio codecs | AAC, SBC, SSC, SSC-UHQ (24-bit/96kHz), LC3 |
| Bluetooth | 6.1, with LE Audio, Auracast and Auto Switch |
| Noise control | ANC, Adaptive ANC 2.0, Adaptive Noise Control |
| Microphones | 6 in total, three per earbud |
| Playback, ANC on | Up to 6 hours, up to 26 hours with the case |
| Playback, ANC off | Up to 7 hours, up to 30 hours with the case |
| Battery capacity | 61 mAh per earbud, 530 mAh case |
| Durability | IP57, earbuds only |
| Weight | 5.1 g per earbud, 44.3 g case |
| Price | $244.99 at Amazon, $249.99 at Samsung |
The 24-bit mode runs on Galaxy phones only
The codec list reads AAC, SBC, SSC, SSC-UHQ and LC3. Neither aptX nor LDAC appears on it.
Samsung says its Ultra High Quality Audio mode, the one that reaches 24-bit and 96kHz, runs on a named list of Galaxy devices. That list covers the S26, S25, S24 and S23 series, the Z Fold5 to Z Fold7, the Z Flip5 to Z Flip7, and the Tab S9 to Tab S11 series.
Each of those needs One UI 6.1.1 or later, and Samsung notes the mode is off by default. The older Samsung Scalable Codec is also described as available only on Galaxy devices.
Samsung is unusually direct about what other phones give up. Its support answer states that an iPhone or a PC connects over Bluetooth alone and receives 16-bit, 44.1kHz audio.
A non-Samsung Android phone running the Galaxy Wearable app does better, but still misses the 24-bit mode. Samsung lists HD Voice, 360 Audio, Interpreter, Live Translate, head gestures and Gaming Mode among the other features it does not get.
These earbuds therefore perform differently depending on the phone attached to them. Gating the best audio mode behind one platform is becoming a pattern, much as the Arctis Nova Pro Omni saves its hi-res audio for PC.
Codec choice is also part of why Bluetooth audio still carries latency. Samsung adds that a Samsung account sign-in is required to change the earbuds' settings, and that the Galaxy Wearable app does not exist on iOS.
ANC 2.0, battery life and what IP57 leaves out
Samsung calls the system Adaptive ANC 2.0 and says real-time processing is what separates it from the Adaptive ANC 1.0 in the cheaper Galaxy Buds4. No decibel figure accompanies that claim.
Three microphones sit in each earbud, six across the pair, and Samsung says each side processes audio independently. Adaptive Noise Control, Voice Detect and Siren Detect all ship switched off.
Switching ANC on costs an hour of listening, taking the earbuds from up to 7 hours down to up to 6. The case-assisted total drops further, from up to 30 hours to up to 26.
The IP57 rating covers the earbuds and nothing else. Samsung states that the charging case is not water resistant, and that no charger or USB-C cable is included in the box.
The $179.99 Galaxy Buds4 shares the same codec list, the same Bluetooth 6.1 and the same six microphones. It drops to a single 11mm driver, one amplifier, Adaptive ANC 1.0 and an IP54 rating, and Samsung has also been filling out the range with open-ear clip-on earbuds.
How the price sits against other noise cancelling earbuds
| Earbuds | Amazon price | Listed list price | Claimed battery |
|---|---|---|---|
| Samsung Galaxy Buds4 Pro | $244.99 | None published | Up to 26 hours with case, ANC on |
| Sony WF-1000XM6 | $328.00 | None published | Up to 24 hours with case |
| Apple AirPods Pro 3 | $199.00 | $249.00 | Up to 8 hours with ANC |
| Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 | $179.99 | $229.00 | 30 hours |
The Sony WF-1000XM6 at $328.00 is the expensive option, and like the Samsung set it carries no published list price. The Apple AirPods Pro 3 at $199.00 is the only one of the four with a stated list price, at $249.00, and it has been $179 at the same retailer.
The Google Pixel Buds Pro 2 at $179.99 undercuts the Samsung set by $65.00. All four are sold and shipped by Amazon and none is gated behind Prime.
Samsung does not publish driver diameters in millimetres for the Buds4 Pro, nor a decibel figure for ANC 2.0, nor any quick-charge timing. Neither store lists an end date for the Amazon price.
All prices here are as listed at the time of writing. Both retailers can move them without notice.
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