The Samsung Galaxy Buds+ didn’t offer much new in terms of design—they were more a minor upgrade than a true refresh. But newly leaked renders of the next generation Galaxy Buds have popped up online, and there’s no other way to say it: They’re li’l beans.
The renders come from German tech site Winfuture and are purportedly based on 3D data from an unnamed manufacturer. The site also reports that the codename for the new earbuds is an apt “Beans.” (Though apparently, the internal codename used to be “Popcorn”—to which I say, Samsung, have you seen popcorn?) Aside from the obvious shape differences, the renders are a clear departure from the previous Galaxy Buds in that they’re much smaller and sleeker, meaning they’re probably less likely to protrude from your ear.
Winfuture says the bean buds—that’s what they’re called now, sorry—should be roughly 2.8 centimetres long and fit in a way that the back part fills the upper part of the ear canal, while the lower part supposedly holds the integrated speakers. As for specs, Winfuture says there’ll be two small speakers, as well as several built-in microphones for calls and filtering out outside noise. There may also be a recessed sensor that detects whether the buds are in your ear.
One thing of note: It looks like the bean buds might not feature active noise cancelling, a bummer considering it popped up on the AirPods Pro. And nowhere in the renders does it seem like there’s any sort of silicone wings or tips to seal in sound.
As someone with tiny ear holes, I’m hoping this rumour is true. I have a hard time fitting most truly wireless earbuds comfortably in my ears—AirPods fall out if I so much as turn my head. I’ve tried running with my partner’s Bose SoundSports, which I’ve accidentally knocked out just by brushing my hair behind my ear. And during my last 5K race, one of my Jabra Elite 65ts popped out my ear and I had to go chasing after it. It’s hard to say whether the bean buds’ shape will actually be more ergonomic, but it’s about time there were wireless buds that didn’t require folks with smaller ears to try every single wing or tip provided just to get a decent fit.
We’ll have to wait and see whether the bean buds pan out—right now they’re just renders, and Winfuture says the buds are currently undergoing validation testing. That means that Samsung could potentially change the design or pull the plug entirely, and these li’l beany buddies could never see the light of day. Still, at the very least, the bean bud renders look interesting and show that Samsung’s looking to mix things up going forward, instead of sticking to iterative updates.