Google’s Pixel Buds are now shipping to some customers in the United States, with one warehouse in Carol Stream, Illinois, reportedly being among the logistics centers that are now sending pre-orders to people in California and other states. Not everyone who placed an advanced order on Google’s first pair of wireless earphones is already receiving them, though no obvious pattern is discernable from the presently existing reports about the device being shipped. Google is presumably prioritizing consumers who were among the first to pre-order the Pixel Buds last month, thus mimicking the distribution strategy adopted for the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL Android smartphones.
The Mountain View, California-based tech giant originally announced the Pixel Buds as one of its first-party accessories for the new Pixel devices, though the earphones are also capable of connecting to pretty much any other smartphone. However, one of the main features of the device will only work with Google’s offerings, as the company confirmed that the live translation functionality of the wireless earbuds will be exclusively available to people who use them in conjunction with either the new Pixel handsets or their 2016 predecessors. Alphabet’s subsidiary remains adamant that there are still a lot of reasons to spend $150 on the Pixel Buds, having previously boasted about the high-quality audio experience the device can provide, as well as its support for Android Fast Pair, a highly streamlined solution for linking a Bluetooth device to a smartphone that requires only a single tap once two compatible products are in the vicinity of each other. Fast Pair was distributed to all handsets running Android 6.0 Marshmallow and later versions of the operating system in late October as part of the Google Play Services 11.7 update, so anyone whose daily driver meets this low software requirement will be able to benefit from the service if they choose to purchase the Pixel Buds.
Google’s consumer electronics endeavors have been intensifying in recent years, with the Pixel Buds being launched alongside a wide variety of other gadgets from the Internet giant. Apart from the new Pixel 2 smartphones, the firm recently also debuted the Google Clips smart camera and Google Home Mini speaker, with the company now being set to release a premium Google Assistant-enabled speaker in the form of the Google Home Max next month.