Google Pixel Buds Pro: Everything you need to know
We’re just days from the release of the Pixel Buds Pro, Google’s new premium true wireless earbuds. On paper, the new buds certainly sound compelling, boasting ANC, long battery life, and convenient features like wireless charging and Bluetooth multipoint. Sound up your alley? Here’s everything you need to know.
Google Pixel Buds Pro: Design
The Pixel Buds Pro share a strong family resemblance to prior Pixel Buds. Their case is the same smooth pill shape in the same eggshell-finish white as seen on both thePixel Buds A-Seriesand 2020’sPixel Buds.
There are four colorways: left to right in the image above, they’re called Coral, Lemongrass, Fog, and Charcoal. While last year’s Pixel Buds A-Series featured charging cases with accents that matched the buds themselves, that’s not the case this time: the case is black and white for every color of earbud.
The new Pro buds ditch thestabilizing finsintended to hold the last two pairs of Pixel Buds in place. They also don’t have the divisivespatial ventthat purportedly helped reduce ear discomfort caused by pressure—though they do feature what Google calls “active in-ear pressure relief.”
They’re bigger than previous Pixel Buds models, with each earbud measuring 23.72 by 22.03 by 22.33 millimeters. For reference, the Pixel Buds A-Series are 20.7 by 29.3 by 17.5 millimeters. The Pixel Buds Pro will stick out of your ear a little farther than the last two pairs did. That’s fair, though, considering these are Google’s first earbuds with active noise cancellation.
One lucky customer who pre-ordered the Pixel Buds Pro got his hands on his pair quite early. The impromptu hands-on didn’t yield much useful information as the buds were running pre-release software, but it did get us a bunch of live photos of the buds:
Again, not much revelatory here, but seeing the earbuds and their case next to the A-Series does give us a better sense of how large the Buds Pro are.
Google Pixel Buds Pro: Audio and active noise cancellation
We haven’t had the chance to actually hear the Pixel Buds Pro yet—they’re not out until later this week—but both thePixel Buds A-Seriesand the 2020 model sound really good. Considering the Pro are a higher-end offering, it stands to reason they’ll sound even better. That said, the last two models had 12-millimeter drivers, and the Pixel Buds Pro have slightly smaller 11-millimeter ones. Size isn’t everything, but even so, we’re not expecting a huge leap in audio fidelity.
Even if they don’t sound markedly better than Pixel Buds that came before them, Pixel Buds Pro have a major leg up inactive noise cancellation. Google had to change up the vented design it used in prior earbuds to accommodate the feature, but that sounds like a worthwhile trade-off. The buds also have a transparency mode to help make up for it. For what it’s worth, one buyer who received his pre-order early said ANC works “pretty well”—though they were running pre-release software at the time.
Google Pixel Buds Pro: Software and features
Like previous Pixel Buds, the Pixel Buds Pro will featurehey Googledetection for hands-free Assistant access. They have Fast Pair for easy pairing with any Android device, and you’ll manage the buds' settings in thePixel Buds app, which is built in on Pixel phones and a separate download for phones from other manufacturers. In a first for Google earbuds, the Pixel Buds Pro will have Bluetooth multipoint support, meaning they can connect to two devices at the same time—for example, your laptop and your phone.
Pixel Buds Pro will also have the same gesture-based controls as 2020’s Pixel Buds. The feature is absent in the Pixel Buds A-Series, and we’revery excited to see it come back—it means you’ll be able to control media volume without having to get your phone out. Google’s also said they’ll eventually support spatial audio, a sort of virtual surround sound.
Google Pixel Buds Pro: Battery and charging
The last two pairs of Pixel Buds were smaller than most true wireless earbuds, and their battery life reflected that: even without ANC, the Pixel Buds A-Series only managed to eke out about five hours of playback on a charge. Google says the Pixel Buds Pro will provide about seven hours of listening time with ANC on or 11 hours with it off, and that the case contains about two full charges for the buds. Google also claims that charging the earbuds in their case for five minutes will provide “up to 1 hour of listening time.”
The same user who posted the above hands-on photos of his early Buds Pro reported that after six hours of sustained listening, his battery had drained by 70 percent. We don’t know whether that was with or without ANC (or a mix of both), but it’s not out of line with Google’s claims.
While 2020’s Pixel Buds had a case that could charge wirelessly, last year’s A-Series didn’t; they were USB-C only. The Pro bring backwireless charging at 2.5 watts, which is quite slow—but earbud batteries are tiny, so they don’t need a lot of current. We’re not yet sure how fast they’ll charge over USB.
Google Pixel Buds Pro: Pricing and availability
The Pixel Buds Pro are available for pre-order right now. They cost $199.99 in the US. General retail availability begins Thursday, July 28.
The Pixel Buds Pro are available in 12 countries:
United States
Coral, Lemongrass, Fog, and Charcoal
Charcoal, Fog, Lemongrass
United Kingdom
Coral, Fog, Charcoal, Lemongrass
Fog, Charcoal, Lemongrass
Charcoal, Fog
You can grab a pair directly from Google, or from the usual third parties like Amazon and Best Buy.
Buy Google Pixel Buds Pro
See at Google StoreSee at AmazonSee at Best Buy
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