Samsung has officially entered the open-ear race. On October 1, the company unveiled the Galaxy Buds On — its first clip-on earphones — aimed at runners and outdoor users who want music without sealing off the world. They go on sale in South Korea on October 27 at 299,000 won (about $220), with a phased global rollout and no US date or price confirmed yet.
The Buds On don’t plug into your ear canal. They clip onto the outer ear, perching the speaker just outside the ear opening so ambient sound — traffic, a running partner, a station announcement — stays audible. The design uses Samsung’s ear-shape data for fit, with an adjustable band, and launches in black only, per ChosunBiz.
The two hard problems of open ear
Open-ear buds have always fought the same two battles: thin bass and bad calls in wind. Samsung’s answers are its engineering core, per GSMArena: the TwinBoost speaker setup pushes back on open-ear bass loss, with Audio Leakage Reduction so your music doesn’t broadcast to the train, and automatic volume adjustment for noisy streets. For calls, three microphones pair with a bone-conduction Voice Pickup Unit and machine-learning noise separation to isolate your voice from wind.
Under the hood sits Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S7 Gen 1 Sound platform with a Class-D amplifier, rated for up to 9.5 hours per charge. 9to5Google notes the charging case is identical to the Buds 4’s — and that at $220, these will not be cheap.
Gemini Live and head gestures for runners
The differentiator for active users is control without hands. The Buds On support Gemini Live, respond to head gestures for calls, notifications, and alarms, and have touch sensors on the rear of the buds. A Quick Voice Memo feature lets a long-press record notes that are searchable through Bixby. For a runner who can’t fish out a phone mid-stride, nodding to answer a call and asking Gemini a question beats tapping blindly at a stem.
Why this matters: the category just went mainstream
Every ranking rewrite recites the spec sheet, so here is the context they skip. Samsung’s entry legitimizes the open-ear category that startups built — and it lands days after vivo launched its own Buds Clip at roughly $85. That puts Samsung in a three-way race: the budget play (vivo at $85), the established premium clip-on (Huawei’s FreeClip around $180), and Samsung’s $220 bet that AI features and Samsung-ecosystem integration justify the premium.
It is also a defensive move. Open-ear audio is the one earbud category still growing fast, and Samsung watched Apple-adjacent and Chinese rivals define it. The Buds On answers with the category’s most aggressive AI package — but at $220 against an $85 rival with the same form factor, Samsung is betting that Gemini Live, bone-conduction calling, and brand trust are worth a $135 gap. The Korea launch on October 27 will be the first test of that bet.
Meanwhile in Gadgets: Apple’s HomePad smart home hub is reportedly launching October 13 with a new Siri AI.
Meanwhile in Mobiles: the Galaxy S26 just got a $100 price hike — here’s why it’s AI’s fault.
