- Second-gen Galaxy Buds FE are in “advanced” development
- Launching “Summer 2025”, expected to cost $99 / £99 / AU$149
- Sony’s next budget ANC buds could launch at the same time
This could be a good year for buyers looking for the best budget wireless earbuds: the next generation of Sony’s budget ANC earbuds appears to be coming soon, and now a new report says Samsung is working on the second-gen Galaxy Buds FE.
We had mixed feelings about the Samsung Galaxy Buds FE, giving them three out of five stars in our review, but they sound good and they offer great active noise cancellation. But of course there’s always room for improvement, especially in the super-competitive world of earbuds: the Buds FE will be two years old this year and rivals haven’t been sitting still.
What we know about the Galaxy Buds FE 2
The news comes via German site GalaxyClub (via NeoWin), which reports that Samsung’s SM-R410 headphones, which are currently in advanced development, are the Buds FE 2.
The report speculates that the launch could be as soon as this summer (perhaps during the same even that we expect Samsung next folding phones), and that the price could be the same as the originals. T
heir launch price was $99 / £99 / AU$149, but within two months the going rate had already dropped to $70 / £75 / AU$135. Even with a post-launch price drop that would make the Buds FE 2 considerably more expensive than our current budget ANC pick, the EarFun Air Pro 3, but around the same price as the Nothing Ear (a), which are our favorite $100 model among the best earbuds.
The report doesn’t give us any hints about possible improvements or details of any key features, so we’re very much in the dark right now. But if Samsung is going to go into the ring with the likes of Sony it’ll be going up against some significantly upgraded earbuds with better battery life, better Bluetooth and presumably better ANC too – we gave the Sony WF-C700N five stars, so we expect their successor to be equally impressive.
The Sony C710N are expected to cost around $100 / £100 (probably a little over at launch) and they too are expected to launch soon – some rumors suggest May 2025.
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