Behold the Apple curse: the AirPods-like Galaxy Buds 3 go from 8/10 to 2/10
It was the Spring of 2023, when we told you about Samsung's plan to introduce the Galaxy Buds 3 and to put an end to the cool bean-shaped Galaxy Buds Live.
Apart from their spectacular shape, the Buds Live were repairability-friendly. The guys and gals at iFixit, who probably have a better understanding of the matter than most out there, gave the Buds Live a repairability score of 8/10.
Now, iFixit's team gives the Galaxy Buds 3 a score of 2/10, as in: "two out of ten". This is such an extravagant collapse, it's almost funny.
What I also find funny is that this comes right after Samsung decided to follow in the footsteps of Apple for the design of the Galaxy Buds 3 series (and the Galaxy Watch Ultra). This had consequences. No, I'm not talking about that bitter Samsung boss who lashed out at Samsung's mobile division for imitating Apple (although that's chucklesome as well).
It's only natural.
Here's what iFixit's Shahram Mokhtari says while tearing the Galaxy Buds 3:
The process of tearing down the buds is indeed long, hard, and messy. Also, there's an obscene amount of glue inside them: nobody deserves such an extremely repair-hostile environment. In order to perform a battery replacement, one needs all kinds of work stations, tools, patience, and luck. The earbuds' case, however, is far easier to disassemble, but that's not enough to redeem the product as a whole.
That's why the Galaxy Buds 3 got the 2 out of 10 score on iFixit's repairability scale.
You can watch the video here:
Apart from their spectacular shape, the Buds Live were repairability-friendly. The guys and gals at iFixit, who probably have a better understanding of the matter than most out there, gave the Buds Live a repairability score of 8/10.
What I also find funny is that this comes right after Samsung decided to follow in the footsteps of Apple for the design of the Galaxy Buds 3 series (and the Galaxy Watch Ultra). This had consequences. No, I'm not talking about that bitter Samsung boss who lashed out at Samsung's mobile division for imitating Apple (although that's chucklesome as well).
In contrast, I'm looking at things through on a holistic level. While Samsung were true to their own Galaxy Buds design, they got a score of 8/10. Now that they've been heavily inspired by Apple, they get a 2/10.
It's only natural.
Here's what iFixit's Shahram Mokhtari says while tearing the Galaxy Buds 3:
These do look stylish, but what concerns me is that Samsung may have also copied the zero out of ten repairability score that we've seen on Apple's AirPods. It was only four years ago that we gave the Galaxy Buds Live a repairability score of 8 out of 10, so an AirPods-like design would represent a significant regression for Samsung.
The process of tearing down the buds is indeed long, hard, and messy. Also, there's an obscene amount of glue inside them: nobody deserves such an extremely repair-hostile environment. In order to perform a battery replacement, one needs all kinds of work stations, tools, patience, and luck. The earbuds' case, however, is far easier to disassemble, but that's not enough to redeem the product as a whole.
You can watch the video here:
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