Samsung’s Clip-On Galaxy Buds On Just Cleared the FCC. Here’s Everything We Know

Samsung has made in-ear buds for years, from the bean-shaped Galaxy Buds Live to the stemmed Buds 3 Pro. Its next pair skips your ear canal entirely.

The earbuds leakers are calling the Galaxy Buds On have received FCC authorization as a Bluetooth headset under model number SM-U600, according to The Gadgeteer, and fresh images published this week show how they actually sit on a person’s ears. Put the paper trail together and a launch looks close.

A cuff, not a bud

The design is a clip-on cuff: two rounded pods joined by an arched bridge that hooks around the edge of your ear. The inner pod holds the speaker and sits just outside the ear canal; the outer end rests behind the ear and doubles as a touch surface. Android Authority, which reported on marketing renders SammyGuru found inside an internal Buds Manager app build, compares the shape to the Bose Ultra Open Earbuds and Huawei’s FreeClip. That’s the category Samsung is chasing.

Internally the project is codenamed “Able,” a name that first surfaced in Samsung’s Wearable app back in July. Black and white colorways appear in the app code.

9to5Google’s reaction to the on-ear photos was blunt: they look a little awkward. Fair enough. But clip-on open-ear buds have found a real audience among runners, cyclists and office workers who want to hear the world around them without pulling their earbuds out every five minutes.

The features Samsung is building in

Leaks from Samsung’s own software paint a fairly detailed picture:

• Auto Volume that adjusts playback to ambient noise, plus a separate Volume Boost toggle. Both make sense for a design that deliberately lets street noise in.
• Head gestures: nod to answer a call, shake your head to decline.
• Gemini or Bixby voice assistant access.
• Quick voice memos on a touch-and-hold, with Bixby-powered transcription and searchable recordings on Galaxy phones.
• Sleep detection that pauses playback when your phone thinks you’ve dozed off. The Gadgeteer reports this requires One UI 9 or later.

What’s missing, and what we still don’t know

Two features Galaxy Buds owners take for granted appear to be absent: active noise cancellation and 360 Audio with head tracking, per Android Authority’s read of the app code. Neither is shocking. ANC makes little sense when the whole point is to leave your ear open, and open-ear designs generally trade bass and isolation for comfort and awareness.

Plenty is still blank. Samsung hasn’t said a word officially, so there’s no confirmed name, price, battery life, water resistance rating or codec list. It isn’t even settled whether the Buds On use a conventional driver or bone conduction, though the renders point to a regular speaker aimed at the ear canal.

When they could arrive

Android Authority expects a fourth-quarter 2026 release, and the regulatory trail backs that up. Along with the FCC listing, the battery showed up in India’s BIS certification database. 9to5Google also points out that the Galaxy Tab S12 Ultra is leaking at the same time, a hint that Samsung has another launch moment coming soon.

Our take

Samsung is late to open-ear audio, but it has one advantage Bose and Shokz don’t: the phone in your pocket. Sleep detection tied to One UI and on-device memo transcription are exactly the kind of tight integration that makes a Galaxy owner pick the Samsung option over a better-sounding rival.

Price will decide the rest. If Samsung undercuts the premium open-ear crowd, the Buds On could become the default pick for Galaxy owners who want to stay aware on a run or a commute. If it prices them like flagship buds, the lack of ANC and spatial audio will make them a tough sell next to Samsung’s own Buds lineup.

Sources: 9to5Google, Android Authority, The Gadgeteer. Photo by Zarak Khan on Unsplash.