- FCC listings hint to another pair of Samsung earbuds coming soon
- This pair looks set to have exercise hooks
- Samsung may be aiming at sporty users, as open earbuds go mainstream
If you cast your mind back to a time Before The Pandemic, you might remember that Samsung used to release products with the ‘Gear’ name. These were smartwatches and earbuds designed for fitness (see the Samsung Gear Icon X for reference, also in the main image of this piece), but the line was retired when the company started making its all-in-one Galaxy gadgets which could do everything, making its fitness-specific tech all-but obsolete.
But it looks like Samsung’s Gear range could be back — in spirit.
An FCC filing for an as-yet-unreleased pair of Samsung earbuds have been spotted. No, these aren’t the Galaxy Buds On open-ears, because they’re already out in many parts of the world. This is another pair of mystery earbuds.
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The documents refer to them as the Samsung Galaxy T1, though that’s possibly a code-name. Either way, it points to a new pair of earbuds coming from the company soon, and a previous leak pointed to the T1 earbuds having sports loops.
Earbuds with sports loops are, naturally, made for fitness users, as they keep the buds locked in place when you’re running or jumping up and down. So these could be the first pair of exercise-designed buds from Samsung since the Gear line was ditched (it’s worth noting that Gear earbuds didn’t actually use sports loops, just ear ridges to lock them in place, like in the picture above).
It’s unlikely that Samsung will revive the Gear name itself, but if it did put out some exercise earbuds, they’d be Gear in spirit.
Samsung’s return to fitness earbuds
Since it stopped making Gear earbuds, Samsung hasn’t made bespoke workout headphones. Instead, it pitches its standard buds like the Samsung Galaxy Buds 4 Pro as being great for running, and as someone who’s tried to work out with them, their fit issues ensure this is not the case.
Perhaps that’s why the tech giant began branching into the world of open-ear headphones. These non-noise-blocking buds are bought for a range of safety and awareness reasons, but their initial (and, to my eyes, still primary) use case was for running in busy areas while remaining aware of your surroundings.
As we covered recently, stats show that open ears are massively surging in popularity, so the release of the Galaxy Buds On makes sense. But what about noise cancelling exercise earbuds? I can’t find any sales figures that suggest this kind of bud is ‘booming’, more than just growing at roughly the same rate as the entire market is.
Discounting open earbuds, the bespoke sports earbuds market is a rather quiet one. Options from brands such as Skullcandy, JBL, JLab and Soundcore mark some of the few in-ear buds with sports loops, and new releases aren’t afforded the attention or buzz that non-sports-buds are.
Does Samsung know something we don’t? Hopefully. It has its own research and sales figures that we’re not privy to, and so any decision to release sports-specific headphones or earbuds likely points to the market segment being bigger than we realize.
That would also explain why Sammers also supplements its fancy premium smartwatches, such as the Galaxy Watch 9, with cheaper options like the Galaxy Fit 3: it knows sports users want their own tech, not just jacks of all trades. It’s as true in wearables as it is in hearables.
When I tested the Galaxy Buds 4 Pro, their in-ear fit was the big issue. If Samsung released them but with a sports loop to lock them in place, they could be the best headphones on the market… for exercise users and normies alike.
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tom.bedford@hotmail.co.uk (Tom Bedford)
