We had been hearing rumors about a new, more affordable variant of the Google Pixel Buds for the past few months. Dubbed the “Pixel Buds A-series,” we even saw Google accidentally leak the device earlier this year. Well, the wait is over today. The Mountain View giant has officially launched the Pixel BNuds A-series at an affordable price in the US and Canada.
So, before moving on to the price and availability, here is a quick rundown of the key specs and features of the Pixel Buds A.
Google Pixel Buds A Launched
The Google Pixel Buds A-series is an affordable variant of Google’s TWS earphones and is pretty similar to the standard model. However, there are a few features that Google had to shed to make the Pixel Buds A-series an affordable option for consumers.
The Pixel Buds A boasts a custom-made 12mm dynamic speaker driver along with the Bass Boost option to deliver crisp and clear sound. It offers passive noise cancelation, thanks to the secure fit of the buds and a spatial vent to adjust in-ear pressure. There’s no ANC (or Active Noise Cancellation) support here.
For connectivity, the Pixel Buds A uses Bluetooth 5.0 along with Fast Pair support to quickly connect to devices. The buds come with hands-free “Hey Google” voice command support and touch controls much like the standard variant. However, unlike the Pixel Buds 2, the A-series does not offer swipe controls to adjust the volume. Moreover, Google also eliminated the wireless charging support for the charging case.
Nonetheless, other than these two features, the Pixel Buds A is more or less similar to its predecessor. It comes with Adaptive Sound technology that automatically adjusts the volume based on environmental noise and boasts an IPX4 rating for water resistance.
Coming to battery life, the earbuds offer up to 5 hours of listening time on a single charge. Paired with the charging case, the Pixel Buds A can run up to 24 hours. Furthermore, the case, although being a non-wireless-charging one, can offer 3 hours of listening time with just a 15-minute charging period, thanks to fast-charging support.
The device comes in two color variants, a Clear White with gray highlights, and a Dark Olive color option.
Price and Availability
Coming to the price, the Pixel Buds A comes with a super affordable price tag of $99 (~Rs. 7,225). This is a significant drop from the $179 (~Rs 13,063) price tag of the standard Pixel Buds 2.
As for availability, the Pixel Buds A-series is currently available for pre-order in the US and Canada. They will be available to buy from Google’s official online store from June 17.
