Do Samsung earbuds work on iPhone? I ditched my AirPods Pro 3 for Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro for 7 days — the results surprised me

The short answer: Yes. Yes you can use Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro on an iPhone. I used them with my iPhone 16 Pro with success. They sound great, are super comfortable, and work with Apple Music, Spotify, and Qobuz seamlessly. Some of the best earbuds I've ever tested, definitely.

However, you're here for the long answer, right? And the long answer is... long. So long, in fact, that I'm going to get into it for the next 1,000 words.

So while, yes, Samsung earbuds do work with an iPhone, you miss out on a lot of features and connectivity options. If you're neck-deep in the Apple ecosystem, you might want to stick with your AirPods — and vice versa if you're a Galaxy ride-or-die.

Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro: $249 at Amazon

The Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro are a major upgrade to the flagship earbud line, combining excellent bassy sound, incredible ANC, and a slew of AI features. You can order now ahead of the release date on March 11th.

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Sound quality reigns supreme

The Galaxy Buds 4 Pro and AirPods Pro 3 are now neck-and-neck in the sound quality race. There's genuinely very little in it.

For a while, Apple, Sony, and Bose were the NASA of sound quality, with Samsung trailing a few steps behind. But not anymore. Samsung's rocket fuel is now just as ferocious as any other audio manufacturer's.

The Galaxy Buds 4 Pro are markedly bassier than AirPods. This isn't a bug, but a feature. Different listeners have different tuning preferences, so it's important to cover all bases (pun intended). Personally, I can appreciate both bass-heavy tuning à la Bose and Samsung, and detail-tuned buds like Apple and Sony.

I'll accept that my AirPods Pro 3 have a wider, more expansive soundscape than the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro, but the bass on the latter is much stronger. There isn't one "correct" option — both tuning styles have their merits.

To test the Galaxy Buds Pro 4, I listened to a range of music on three different streaming services: Qobuz, Apple Music, and Spotify. Qobuz has the highest-quality streams — many tracks available in 24-bit 192kHz — whereas Apple Music and Spotify offer a max of 24-bit 48 kHz and 24-bit 44.1 kHz, respectively.

Regardless of the streaming service, my music sounded genuinely fantastic. Unfortunately, I had to do a lot of listening on Spotify's "low" quality due to being low on mobile data and being on a train with patchy signal.

'Connection' by Elastica is a Britpop track built over distorted, stretched guitars and a lackadaisical female vocal. This track pounded through the earbuds, bass-first and unabashed.

Electronic sounded great, too. 'Arintinin' by Rico Nasty and Boyz Noize is a bared-teeth, claws-unsheathed monster of a track, a cluttered soundscape of whistles, pounding synths, layered vocals, and a non-stop beat. Even with this challenging track, the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro didn't sacrifice treble in favor of bass.

So, no, AirPods Pro 3 and Galaxy Buds 4 Pro don't sound identical, but they do sound as good as one another. They're simply good for different purposes, different styles of listeners. Do you love bass and Bose earbuds? You'll be so impressed by the Buds 4 Pro. Detail and Sony-style mids more your flavor? Then I think you'd prefer AirPods.

In terms of sound quality alone, I didn't miss my AirPods Pro 3 once during my week-long swap.

On-par comfort

Now, I'm a bit of a weirdo in that I have tiny little ears. I didn't realize I had this affliction until I started testing earbuds full-time, but let me tell you, it's a nightmare. I have to use the smallest ear tip size on every set of buds I review. Every. Time.

If you have normal adult-sized ears, this won't be an issue for you. When I perceive an earbud to be uncomfortable or overly large, I always get one of my colleagues to try it out just to make sure it's not a me problem. Most of the time, it is a me problem. I just have weird, shrunken ears.

As a result, when I find earbuds that fit me, I have to cling to them like a baby koala sticks to its mother. It's why I'm such an AirPods girl, even though I'm in the very lucky position of having access to nearly every pair of earbuds ever made.

Thankfully, the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro are also small enough to fit in my ears. I can wear these buds for hours and hours and hours without them aching. The Sony WF-1000XM6, I could only wear for an hour before my ears started aching. Denon PerL Pro, same story.

So it brings me great joy to announce that the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro are just as comfortable as AirPods Pro 3 (and Pro 2, the best earbuds for tiny ears IMO).

But there's a feature-shaped hole

Alright, even though the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro sound just as good as AirPods (equally as good, but tuned differently) and are just as comfy, it's not all sunshine and rainbows.

As you might expect, basically all of the Galaxy Buds' features are locked behind the Galaxy ecosystem.

I've made a table of all the features you can access on an iPhone 16 Pro with both AirPods Pro 3 and Galaxy Buds Pro 4.

As you can see, the features available on the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro and iPhone are... few and far between, at best. You don't get access to any of Samsung's industry-leading AI assistant tech, any translation functions, heck, even any sound adjustment. You're stuck with default settings, down to sound, touch controls, and ANC.

But I rarely (read: never) use any of the AirPods Pro 3's "AI" features. Heart rate sensor? No, I've got a smart watch for that. Siri? No, she doesn't do what I ask anyway. EQ adjustment? No, I like how AirPods sound out of the box.

So this is all negligible for me. I don't miss this. What I do miss is the lack of multipoint. Going into my phone and MacBook settings to change Bluetooth device is tedious. Really, really tedious.

As someone who has an iPhone, personal MacBook, work MacBook, and iPad, I need earbuds that can keep up with me regardless of which device I'm using, and that's exactly what I've got with my AirPods.

So while the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro do work on iPhone, you're missing some key features. AI features are whatever — I don't care for them anyway — but the lack of multipoint is the real kicker.

In short, as much as I love the sound, design, and ANC on the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro, I think I'm going to crawl back to my AirPods now.

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