At the 2024 Made by Google event, the search engine giant announced the brand new Pixel Buds Pro 2.
With all of the controversy surrounding Samsung’s new Galaxy Buds 3 Series looking like Apple AirPods clones, we should address this: Google’s Pixel Buds Pro 2 do not look like replicas of the popular Apple earbuds. The design of the earbuds are different — unlike the AirPods Pro and the Galaxy Buds 3, there are no stems in sight.
With that out of the way, here are what the Pixel Buds Pro 2 do offer.
Credit: Google
The new Google Pixel Buds Pro 2
Google seems to be going all-in with the AI-powered aspect of its new wireless earbuds. The company says this is the first time its powerful Tensor chip has been used in earbuds. According to Google, the Tensor A1 chip, which was built specifically to power Google AI processing, is able to process audio “90 times faster than the speed of sound.”
With this, Pixel Buds Pro 2’s Active Noise Cancellation with Silent Seal 2.0 feature is able to cancel “twice as much” noise as the first Pixel Buds Pro in order to deliver clearer audio for phone calls.
Google’s Tensor chip also comes in handy for another new AI-powered feature in the Pixel Buds Pro 2: Conversation Detection. Basically, Google says users won’t have to remove the earbuds in order to have real-life conversations. Pixel Buds Pro 2 are able to detect when a user starts speaking and will automatically pause any music that’s playing and switch to Transparency mode. The Pixel Buds Pro 2 can detect when the conversation is over, too, and resume the audio in the earbuds automatically, without the user having to do anything.
Switching audio in general will be much easier as Google said that the new Pixel Buds Pro 2 will be able to automatically switch between devices based on what the user is doing.
Credit: Google
Back to the design aspects of the Pixel Buds Pro 2, Google claims that these latest earbuds are “the most comfortable and secure-fitting earbuds.” They’re also 27 percent smaller than the previous generation. Google was able to make these earbuds lighter while increasing the battery life as well.
Sick of your earbuds popping out of your ear? The Pixel Buds Pro 2 also has a new twist-to-adjust stabilizer, which locks the earbuds in a user’s ear in situations like running or other exercise.
There are some caveats here. The Pixel Buds Pro 2 do require a Google Account for some features, which shouldn’t be a problem for most. However, an Android device (specifically a Pixel 7 or newer) is required for some of the specific AI-powered features. So, the Pixel Buds Pro 2 are probably not the best choice for Pixel 6 and iPhone users, for example.
Pre-orders for the Pixel Buds Pro 2 drop tomorrow and have a price tag of $229.99. They’re expected to hit store shelves on Sept. 26.
