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The best headphones for Samsung devices, including models from Bose and Apple.
Your Samsung smartphone might offer plenty of great features, but we’ll bet that the earphones it came with aren’t that great. That’s a standard-issue problem with standard-issue earbuds. You’re better off upgrading by buying a pair of earphones or headphones that offer superior audio and features.
But before you jump in and invest in a fancy new set, it’s worth thinking about your specific requirements — particularly as a Samsung user. After all, some headphones are geared towards Samsung devices, and some are geared towards Apple devices.
Where will you use your headphones? Do you commute regularly? Do you love using Samsung’s voice assistant? Do you need noise cancellation? It’s important to pick a pair that works for you. Especially if you’re looking to spend a decent amount of money on a more than decent pair.
To help get through the jargon and figure out what works best for your Samsung devices, here’s a quick guide.
When buying headphones, you can choose between wired headphones, wireless, or even “true” wireless. Wired means you plug them into your headphone jack with cables trailing up to your ears. This can be an issue if you’re moving around a lot and don’t want to get tangled up. These do tend to be cheaper than wireless solutions, though.
Wireless headphones, meanwhile, are typically connected via Bluetooth. That means you’re free to move around without being physically connected to your device.
The latest Samsung smartphones don’t have a headphone jack. Instead, they have a USB-C port that connects to the standard-issue earphones. In other words, Samsung is following Apple in moving towards wireless listening. Be aware of this when ordering headphones that still use an old-school jack connection.
True wireless (sometimes called “truly” wireless) is a term you’ll come across often when researching earphones. There are technically several levels of wireless. Regular “wireless” means earphones that aren’t connected to the device but are connected to each other via a cable that hangs behind your neck.
True wireless is exactly as it sounds: two earbuds and no cables anywhere. They’re typically the most expensive option and you need to get a pair that fit comfortably so they don’t fall out. They’re particularly useful for when you’re running or commuting, as you don’t want to be tangled in cables.
Wired, wireless, and true wireless aren’t the only variations you have to consider. There are also on-ear headphones or in-ear earphones (or earbuds as they’re often called). Neither is technically better than the other. It all comes down to personal choice. Some people prefer the old school-feel of on-ear headphones. Others like buds that feed music directly into their ears.
There are benefits to both. On-ear headphones tend to have higher-quality sound, while in-ear earphones are more compact, portable, and inconspicuous. They’re also better suited to fitness or commuting.
Active noise cancellation (ANC) is a clever bit of tech that blocks out external sound. It uses mini microphones that detect incoming noise and then create anti-sound waves to cancel out that noise. Some headphones have variations of ANC, such as “adaptive” noise cancellation, which cleverly adapts to your surroundings, or ambient modes which let in certain types of external noise such as other people’s voices, so you know when someone has started a conversation.
This is a commonly asked question, because Beats is such a popular brand, but became Apple-centric when Apple bought Beats back in 2014. You might think that you can’t use Beats headphones with your Samsung smartphone but that is not the case. The people at Beats are quick to remind listeners that their headphones sync with other types of devices straight out of the box, although you’ll miss out on some iOS features.
It’s pretty easy to find cheap headphones, but there are reasons why they’re so inexpensive. Typically, you get what you pay for, and the cheapest set is going to be lacking. You’ll want to make sure your headphones offer decent battery life, sound quality, durability, and portability, because otherwise you’re just wasting your cash. The more you spend, the more features you tend to get.
If the sheer number of headphone options has you feeling overwhelmed, do not fear. We’ve made the whole process much easier. We’ve done the research, listened to the experts (not to mention some tunes), and pulled together a selection of your best options. Just pick something that sound good to you.
These are the best headphones for Samsung devices in 2023.
Many of the best robot vacuums will be on sale for Black Friday, and several mopping and self-emptying deals are already live. Get the 2023 Shark Matrix for $199 at Walmart or the Roomba Combo j5+ with obstacle avoidance for $499.99.
UPDATE: Nov. 3, 2023, 3:00 a.m. EDT This post has been updated with the best early Black Friday robot vacuum deals including self-emptying robot vacuums, hybrid robot vacuums, and cheap standalone robot vacuums from iRobot, Shark, Roborock, and more.
Robot vacuums feel like they’re everywhere and nowhere all at once in the good year of 2023. Shopping holidays have gone hard in this category for years, but you still may not know anyone who actually has one. If you’re wondering if robot vacuums are actually worth it, your best bet is to scope out Black Friday robot vacuum deals to try one yourself, already.
By Black Friday, we mean the entire month of November. Retailers like Walmart, Target, and Best Buy have all already cut the virtual ribbon on their Black Friday sales, so unless you’re waiting for a very specific premium robot vacuum deal (like the Roomba Combo j9+‘s first discount, if that even happens), there’s no real point in waiting until Black Friday — and denying yourself several weeks of one less chore — to buy a robot vacuum.
Below, we’re tracking the robot vacuum deals live ahead of Black Friday. Early deals are organized into three sections — standalone robot vacuums, self-emptying robot vacuums (that don’t mop), and robot vacuum/mop hybrids — and listed in order of price. We’ll update this list with more models as they go on sale ahead of Black Friday.
The limbo period between Amazon’s second Prime Day of the year and Black Friday is Shark’s time to shine, apparently. For a solid cheap Shark option, skip the outdated $129 Shark ION and opt for one from the newer Matrix line instead. For less than $200, the RV2300 model (without an auto-empty dock) secures LiDAR-powered smart home mapping and virtual boundaries, plus Shark’s Matrix technology, which tackles debris from multiple angles in a crosshatch pattern to grab anything that was missed on the first pass.
Shark itself claims that the Matrix dishes out 50% more suction power than the Roomba i3 — and when the Roomba i3 costs $100 more even on sale, we’d understand if that’s an experiment you’re willing to test.
iHome AutoVac Juno — $99 $199 (save $100.99)
iRobot Roomba 694 — $159.99 $274.99 (save $115)
Roborock Q5 — $279.99 $429.99 (save $150 with on-page coupon)
Shark released several iterations of its flagship robot vacuum in 2023. This chic black and silver RV2310AE model is on sale at Amazon for less than $300 — a 40% price cut and a record-low price (according to camelcamelcamel) by far. Home mapping and virtual boundaries guided by 360-degree LiDAR are present here, plus Shark’s newest claim to fame: its Matrix cleaning technique that vacuums in a crosshatch pattern to grab any debris missed from the first angle.
Roborock Q5+ — $449.99 $699.99 (save $250 with on-page coupon)
The s9+ hasn’t been the latest or greatest Roomba since iRobot started rolling out its j Series robot vacs in 2021. But it should still be a serious contender if you have pets or lots of thick carpeting in your home — especially when on sale for $599.99, which is just $100 away from the $499.99 it hit during Prime Big Deal Days. For reference, the only Roombas with stronger suction power than the s9+ are the j9+ and Combo j9+, which go for $899.99 and $1,399.99, respectively.
Eufy X8 Pro — $549.99 $649.99 (save $100)
iRobot has also started pushing out Black Friday deals, but more quietly than the big retailers. One discount flying under the radar that needs to be called out is on the Roomba Combo j5+, which is one of five new Roombas just launched in September. At nearly 40% off, the Roomba Combo j5+ is sitting at $499.99 — the same sale price that the less-fancy Roomba Combo i5+ is currently seeing.
Both models mop and require you to be home to manually click the water tank on, and both can map your home and avoid (or tackle) carpeted rooms on command. But there’s one huge difference between the Combo i5 and Combo j5: The j5 Series are the cheapest Roombas that use iRobot’s obstacle avoidance tech to avoid eating phone chargers or smearing pet waste if the vacuum finds an accident before you do. This capability, which we first experienced when testing the Combo j7+, is an absolute game changer if your previous gripe with robot vacuums was that you had to clean up before sending them out to clean.
Dreametech D9 Max — $234.99 $349.99 (save $115 with on-page coupon)
Shark AI Ultra 2-in-1 — $299.40 $449.40 (save $150 with code ROBOT150)
Yeedi Vac Station — $299.99 $499.99 (save $200 with on-page coupon)
iRobot Roomba Combo i5 — $299.99 $399.99 (save $100)
Eufy G30 Hybrid with self-empty — $329.99 $429.99 (save $100)
Ecovacs N10+ — $349.99 $649.99 (save $300)
Shark AI Ultra 2-in-1 with self-empty XL — $499.60 $699.60 (save $200 with code ROBOT200)
Yeedi Cube — $499.99 $699.99 (save $200 with on-page coupon)
Roborock Q7 Max+ — $499.99 $869.99 (save $370 with on-page coupon)
Roborock Q5 Pro+ — $599.99 $699.99 (save $100 with on-page coupon)
Roborock S8 — $599.99 $749.99 (save $150 with on-page coupon)
Roborock Q Revo — $799.99 $899.99 (save $100 with on-page coupon)
Eufy Clean X9 Pro — $799.99 $899.99 (save $100 with on-page coupon)
Roborock S8+ — $799.99 $999.99 (save $200 with Prime)
Ecovacs Deebot T20 Omni — $799.99 $1,099.99 (save $300)
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The M3 Max is faster than its most powerful predecessor, and it’s inside the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros.
We suspected the M3 Max inside the new MacBook Pro models was fast — but maybe not quite this fast.
Apple unveiled its new silicon chipset, M3, earlier this week with its new line of MacBook Pros. Every year, the company zeroes in on its new chips’ zippier performance compared to previous generations. However, early third-party tests discovered that the company really seems to have delivered this time.
A database entry for Geekbench, a test that inspects CPU performance, clocked that the 16-inch M3 Max MacBook Pro delivers a multi-core score of 21,084.
This test result was first noticed by MacRumors, which pointed out that this figure puts the new M3 Max within the same performance tier as the M2 Ultra, which can be found inside powerful Apple desktops such as the Mac Pro and Mac Studio. The average multi-core score for those models are 21,182 and 21,316 respectively.
The M3 Max MacBook Pro with a 16-core CPU has a starting price of $3,999, so it’s certainly not cheap. However, the Mac Pro M2 Ultra starts at $6,999, so the fact that it’s delivering similar CPU performance scores is impressive.
While the Mac Studio M2 Ultra starts at the same price as the MacBook Pro M3 Max (16-core CPU), the Mac Studio comes with a 24-core CPU in comparison, with very little difference in performance.
When compared to the M2 Max, the M3 Max is around 45 percent faster than its predecessor, according to tests. That’s right around the 50 percent number that Apple claimed during the “Scary Fast” Mac event.
The M3 Max chip is certainly impressive from what we can see so far. But will the performance hold up to the everyday usage of pro-level consumers that make up its targeted audience? We’ll soon find out.
Apple’s new M3 line of MacBook Pros launch on Nov. 7.
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Many leading AI companies issued statements in response to President Biden’s executive order, but OpenAI has yet to say anything.
In the wake of President Biden’s executive order on Monday, AI companies and industry leaders have weighed in on this watershed moment in AI regulation. But the biggest player in the AI space, OpenAI, has been conspicuously quiet.
The Biden-Harris administration’s far-ranging executive order addressing the risks of AI builds upon voluntary commitments secured by 15 leading AI companies. OpenAI was among the first batch of companies to promise the White House safe, secure, and trustworthy development of its AI tools. Yet the company hasn’t issued any statement on its website or X (formerly known as Twitter). CEO Sam Altman, who regularly shares OpenAI news on X, hasn’t posted anything either.
OpenAI has not responded to Mashable’s request for comment.
Of the 15 companies that made a voluntary commitment to the Biden Administration, the following have made public statements, and all of which expressed support for the executive order: Adobe, Amazon, Anthropic, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, and Scale AI. Nvidia decline to comment.
In addition to crickets from OpenAI, Mashable has yet to hear from Cohere, Inflection, Meta, Palantir, and Stability AI. But OpenAI and Altman’s publicity tour proclaiming the urgent risks of AI and the need for regulation makes the company’s silence all the more noticeable.
Altman has been vocal about the threat that generative AI made by his own company poses. In May, Altman, along with technology pioneers Geoffrey Hinton and Bill Gates signed an open letter, stating, “Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.”
At a senate hearing in May, Altman expressed the need for AI regulation: “I think if this technology goes wrong, it can go quite wrong, and we want to be vocal about that,” said Altman in response to inquiry from Sen. Blumenthal, D-CT about the threat of superhuman machine intelligence.
So far, cooperation with lawmakers and world leaders has worked in OpenAI’s favor. Altman participated in the Senate’s bipartisan closed-door AI summit, giving OpenAI a seat at the table for formulating AI legislation. Shortly after Altman’s testimony, leaked documents from OpenAI showed the company lobbying for weaker regulation in the European Union.
It’s unclear where OpenAI stands on the executive order, but open-source advocates say the company already has too much lobbying influence. On Wednesday, the same day as the AI Safety Summit in the U.K., more than 70 AI leaders issued a joint statement calling for a more transparent approach to AI regulation. “The idea that tight and proprietary control of foundational AI models is the only path to protecting us from society-scale harm is naive at best, dangerous at worst,” said the statement.
Meta Chief AI Scientist Yann LeCun, one of the signatories, doubled down on this sentiment on X (formerly known as Twitter) by calling out OpenAI, DeepMind (a subsidiary of Google), and Anthropic for using fear-mongering to ensure favorable outcomes. “[Sam] Altman, [Demis] Hassabis, and [Dario] Amodei are the ones doing massive corporate lobbying at the moment. They are the ones who are attempting to perform a regulatory capture of the AI industry,” he posted.
Anthropic and Google leadership have both provided statements supporting the executive order, leaving OpenAI the lone company accused of regulatory capture yet to issue any comment.
Many of the testing provisions in the EO relate to huge foundation models not yet on the market and future development of AI systems, suggesting consumer-facing tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT won’t be impacted much.
“I don’t think we’re likely to see any immediate changes to any of the generative AI tools available to consumers,” said Jake Williams, former US National Security Agency (NSA) hacker and Faculty member at IANS Research. “OpenAI, Google, and others are definitely training foundation models and those are specifically called out in the EO if they might impact national security.”
So, whatever OpenAI is working on might be subjected to government testing.
In terms of how the executive order might impact directly OpenAI, Beth Simone Noveck, director of the Burnes Center for Social Change, said it could slow down the pace of new products and updates being released and companies will have to invest more in research and development and compliance.
“Companies developing large-scale language models (e.g. ChatGPT, Bard and those trained on billions of parameters of data) will be required to provide ongoing information to the federal government, including details of how they test their platforms,” said Noveck, who previously served as the first United States Deputy Chief Technology Officer under President Obama.
More than anything, the executive order signals an alignment with growing consumer expectations for greater control and protection of their personal data, said Avani Desai, CEO of Schellman, a top CPA firm that specializes in IT audit and cybersecurity.
“This is a huge win for privacy advocates as the transparency and data privacy measures can boost user confidence in AI-powered products and services,” Desai said.
So while the consequences of the executive order may not be immediate, it squarely applies to OpenAI’s tools and practices. You’d think OpenAI might have something to say about that.
