Samsung could take on Apple's AirPods Max with its own over-ear 'Galaxy' headphones

Samsung has a decently wide and (spec-wise) diverse catalog of in-ear earbuds, but it’s now reportedly experimenting with newer designs. About a month ago, we first learned about Samsung’s plans to hop onto the clip-on bandwagon with something called the Galaxy Buds Able. While those aren’t expected to arrive until later this year, Samsung could be working on another product: a pair of over-the-ear headphones, taking on products such as the AirPods Max 2.

These supposed Galaxy headphones have made their first appearance as graphics hidden deep within Samsung’s Wearable app. The graphics spotted by SamMobile clearly depict a pair of headphones with ear cushions and headbands in different colors. However, it’s also vital to note that colored icons alone do not confirm the actual colors of the physical product.

The pair is internally referred to as “Galaxy H1,” but we could expect to learn more about the naming once the device is closer to launch. There’s no clear estimate of when the product might launch, though we suspect Samsung’s next Unpacked event, where it officially launches the Galaxy S27 series, would be the perfect opportunity to do so.

We can’t say much about the specifications either, but given Samsung’s lineup is limited to upper-mid-range and high-end products, we could expect Samsung’s upcoming headphones to rival the top ranks of brands like Bose and Sony. That means we can expect features like Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), Bluetooth 6.0, and possibly also Samsung’s hi-res audio codec, Samsung Seamless Codec, or SSC. Given Samsung’s pedigree of delivering several generations of good audio products before — and owning brands such as Harman Kardon, AKG, and JBL, we don’t see it having any difficulty delivering these headphones, though we’d reserve our judgment until after we’ve used them.

Notably, these won’t be Samsung’s first-ever pair of over-ear headphones. It dabbled in the category more than a decade ago with the Samsung Level, which had only a single successor. A few years later, Samsung acquired Harman and all its sub-brands.