Once upon a time, the USB-C Pixel Buds felt like a thing of legend. A pair of wired earbuds that carried the Pixel brand name and were positioned as the perfect pairing to your Pixel smartphone without costing you an arm and a leg.
Those days are long gone now that the Pixel Buds have transitioned from using Bluetooth to being USB-C to being truly wireless. And because, well they’re two years old. Does that mean you have to stop using them if you already have a pair? No, of course not. But Google is retiring the audio accessory all the same.
Recently, whether sometime this morning or in the last couple of days, the Google Store stopped selling these older earbuds. You may still be able to find them from third-party sellers somewhere else. But Google no longer offers them on its store front.
Instead, the new true wireless Pixel Buds are your only option. And all four colors are available and in stock too. Something which wasn’t possible for quite a while after they were announced.
USB-C Pixel Buds can still be found on Amazon
There is at least one place where you can pick these up if you prefer the wired option. On Amazon. While they don’t appear to be available on eBay, a third-party seller on Amazon has them for about $20. Which is $10 less than they were from Google when they were new.
These are only available in White and they feature an in-line mic on the wire that allows for control of volume and Google Assistant access. They also feature in-ear access to Google Translate. Though they likely won’t be as good as what you get with the new Pixel Buds that you can still buy from Google.
Wired earbuds in the box are a thing of the past
Google used to include these in the box with the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL. But it hasn’t included earbuds in the box since then and it’s not likely to do so in the future.
Having them at least available directly from Google though meant there was still a direct option for those that wanted it. And while you can still find these at select carriers and from at least one third-party Amazon seller, that stock will eventually be gone as well.
If you fancied a pair of these, you may want to try and pick them up where you can while you can.