Samsung will unveil the Galaxy S20 and Z Flip next Wednesday in San Francisco, although fans of the company who’re following tech news closely probably know everything there is to know about the new phones. And Samsung isn’t even trying to contain leaks at this point. Samsung has confirmed the big name change coming to the Galaxy S family by hosting Galaxy S20-related content on its website. And on top of that, it spoiled one of the Galaxy S20’s best secrets in the best possible way. It used an iPhone app to inadvertently disclose one of the best things about the Galaxy S20 series.
Apple killed the headphone jack a few years ago and announced the AirPods as a potential fix to the newly created problem. While many people were quick to criticize the removal of the 3.5mm headphone jack, even more of them came to appreciate the quality of the AirPods. They’re one of the best products Apple released in the last few years, holding a commanding lead over rivals. That’s because everyone in the business came up with AirPods alternatives, including some of the most important Android device makers — the list includes Google, Huawei, and Samsung, of course.
Samsung needed a few years to get the courage to remove the headphone jack, although it released its own AirPods equivalent last year, alongside the Galaxy S10 series. The wireless earphones were offered free of charge with S10 preorders, and Samsung quickly ran out of Galaxy Buds stock at the time.
This year, Samsung will release the Galaxy Buds+, the improved Buds version that’s a response to Apple’s new AirPods Pro. And it makes perfect sense for Samsung to confirm the Buds+ earphones using an iPhone app. After all, without Apple paving the way, Samsung might not have removed the audio port from its phones, and might not have invested as much in making AirPods equivalents.
The new AirPods will be compatible with the iPhone as well, which makes sense. All these wireless headphones should work with whatever gadget that can play audio over Bluetooth. And Samsung has an app for that, apparently, as seen in the following screenshots.
Very Samsung if you, Samsung. pic.twitter.com/4aYXNw6AsS
— Max Weinbach (@MaxWinebach) February 4, 2020
Separately, Evan Blass tweeted the following image, which shows a detailed specs comparison between Samsung’s 2019 and 2020 Galaxy Buds versions.
The new Buds+ will come with better battery life and faster charging, multi-device connectivity support, improved audio and voice support, and a gesture that invokes Spotify playback — Samsung and Spotify inked a big partnership, after all.
The Buds+ will work with Android and iPhone, but they’ll require iPhone 7 or later to work, running iOS 10 or later.
The same Blass revealed a few days ago a leaked Samsung marketing image that said the Galaxy S20+ and Galaxy S20 Ultra will be bundled with free Buds+ during preorders, which is an exciting deal, especially considering that all Galaxy S20 phones will be quite expensive.
Purchased alone, the Galaxy Buds+ will cost $149, $20 more than the Galaxy Buds, but $100 cheaper than the AirPods Pro.
