Samsung’s new watch and earbuds look remarkably familiar

  • Samsung has unveiled its new Galaxy Watch Ultra and Galaxy Buds 3 Pro
  • Fans were quick to note that the products looked similar to those made by Apple
  • The company has said it doesn’t care about the similarities

Published on Jul 15, 2024 at 8:39 AM (UTC+4)
by Claire Reid

Last updated on Jul 15, 2024 at 8:31 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by Tom Wood

Samsung has unveiled its new Galaxy Watch Ultra and Galaxy Buds 3 Pro, but some people have suggested that they bear a striking resemblance to Apple products.

Samsung’s Unpacked event took place last Wednesday (July 10), during which the tech giant showcased its soon-to-be-released products.

Amongst the new offerings was the Galaxy Watch Ultra – with an eye-catching bright orange strap – and its Galaxy Buds 3 Pro.

READ MORE! Samsung boss makes bold prediction on Apple’s next product move

The new Samsung watch and earbuds look familiar 

However, eagle-eyed tech fans were quick to point out just how much the watch looked like the Apple Watch Ultra 2—which, in addition to sharing the name ‘Ultra’, also has a flashy orange strap and a similar orange accent on its action button.

Meanwhile, the Galaxy Buds also had a redesign, with the new 3 Pro looking noticeably more like Apple AirPods than previous versions.

They now feature a ‘stem’ design and are available in white (as well as silver), much like the Apple earbuds.

The new Samsung offering can also be controlled by gestures – like Apple AirPods Pro.

It wasn’t long before social media users began to comment on the lookalike products, with one person accusing them of ‘blindly copying’ Apple and ‘ruining a good design’..

In fact the chatter around the similarities has been so loud its even got back to Samsung, with the company’s EVP Patrick Chomet saying that he ‘didn’t care’ what people thought.

Samsung insists it just wanted to create the best product possible 

He said that Apple’s products had not been a consideration during the design process for the new earbuds and that the tech giant simply wanted to put out the best product possible.

“I want the best product anyway, so we designed it to be the best for consumers,” he said.

“That’s the honest answer, and we may be exposed to criticisms, but I really don’t care because I just want the best product.”

He also stressed that while the two might look a little alike on the outside, they were very different products.

“It may look [like AirPods stems] on the surface, but it’s not the same at all,” he added. “I can guarantee that.”

And that’s quite likely to be very true – at least if a new patent filed by Apple to include teeny cameras on its AirPods is anything to go by. 

Samsung also responded to claims made against its Ultra watch.

In a statement shared with Business Insider, the company said its new watch had been simply designed to ‘ensure comfort, usability, and durability in a variety of use cases’. Fair enough.

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Claire Reid is a journalist who hails from the UK but is now living in New Zealand. She began her career after graduating with a degree in Journalism from Liverpool John Moore’s University and has more than a decade of experience, writing for both local newspapers and national news sites. Across her career she's covered a wide variety of topics, including celebrity, cryptocurrency, politics, true crime and just about everything in between.