Have you ever used a new set of earbuds, only to find they didn’t fit quite right? We’ve all been there. But some Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro users are reporting slightly more than ill-fitting earbuds, with multiple reports of ear infections and allergic reactions to Samsung’s flagship earbuds.
So, what’s going on with Samsung’s Galaxy Buds Pro earbuds, and why are users reporting issues?
Users Report Ear Infections and Skin Reactions After Using Galaxy Buds Pro
While we have personally not experienced any ear infections or otherwise after using Samsung’s Galaxy Buds Pro here at MakeUseOf, multiple reports from other publications and online forums allege that the Buds Pro earbuds are causing ear infections.
The issue was first flagged up by Chris Wedel at Android Central, as he claims to have experienced an ear infection after using the buds. Since then, there have been more than a few first-hand write-ups involving the Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro.
Wedel’s experience ended with him in the doctor’s office, taking ear drops, an antibiotic, and painkillers, eventually taking three days before the doctor could even look in his ear to check if his eardrum was still intact.
Furthermore, this wasn’t just that Wedel had unboxed the buds then stuck them straight in his ears. No, as someone experienced at reviewing earbuds, he’d cleaned them thoroughly before starting to use them.
According to reports online, Wedel’s ear infection doesn’t seem to be an isolated incident. Reddit has multiple threads with users detailing their ear infections, all allegedly stemming from the Galaxy Buds Pro.
Others describe discomfort after using the Galaxy Buds Pro, and while not all have required medical intervention, there appears to be a trend linking these Galaxy Ear Buds Pro users together.
As Wedel points out in his article, another media outlet, Olhar Digital, found that Samsung uses nickel in the Ear Buds Pro charging points, a metal known to cause skin irritations. It also points to the use of acrylate instead of the more commonly used acrylic in other Galaxy Buds products, something else that can cause skin irritation, itching, and more.
Reddit isn’t the only online forum featuring posts from users allegedly suffering from negative reactions and ear infections after using Samsung’s Ear Buds Pro. However, there’s a long post on the Samsung Community forums with multiple respondents all claiming to have experienced similar issues, so Wedel’s painful experience certainly isn’t an outlier.
A Class Action Lawsuit Against Samsung Is Being Proposed
Wedel and other users eventually received full refunds for their ear infections and other alleged issues, but some users are taking it one step further. A proposed class-action lawsuit claims that “Samsung’s Galaxy Buds Pro headphones can cause allergic and inflammatory reactions in wearers’ ears” and that the earbuds are “unfit for their intended purpose.”
Samsung’s marketing techniques are false and misleading in that a reasonable consumer would believe that the Earbuds were of premium quality, are capable of being used as intended and would not result in health risks under ordinary use. But in reality, the Defect renders the Earbuds unsafe and useless, and result [sic] in significant health issues.
The lawsuit is pushing to ensure that, if found guilty of the alleged oversight and issues with the Galaxy Buds Pro, Samsung would have to actually rectify the issue rather than provide refunds to affected users and hope that that the problem goes away.
For now, if you find yourself experiencing an issue with your Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro earbuds, it looks like the best thing to do is join in with one of the linked Samsung Community forum threads to add pressure on Samsung, and perhaps stop using your Buds Pro earbuds altogether until the issue you’re experiencing is resolved.
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