Following weeks of reporting that provided a pretty clear glimpse, Google finally announced their first “headphones optimized for the Google Assistant” this month. The initial pair are made by Bose, but we’ve long speculated that there would be more models from other companies.
In fact, for quite a while now, we’ve heard from our own sources of Google-made headphones in development and today another rumor corroborates that information. What’s not known is whether or not they’ll ever be a real product.
Android Police’s David Ruddock tweeted that Google could announce “Bluetooth earbuds (with a wire between buds) next week.”
For several weeks now, we’ve heard of a similar product in development from two separate sources and can corroborate this neckbuds form factor for headphones made by Google that feature an Assistant “action” button.
Given our information and David’s tweet today, we are positive that at some point Google-made headphones have been in development. However, it was always unclear to us whether Google would actually release them given a number of factors — hence we’ve held off on reporting.
While one person framed them to us as AirPods-like, it seems clear now that they would retain a cord between the buds. This is in sharp contrast to the truly wireless products that more and more companies are now announcing. As pointed out today, Google would be releasing a product that is decidedly behind.
Today’s tweet does reveal a $159 price point that, while in line with with similar neckbuds, are the same price as Apple’s AirPods, though technologically less impressive.
Regardless, it’s likely that more Assistant headphones are in development given how Google opened up Assistant to other smart speakers, while one of our reports last month spotted the “Baywolf” codename for the Bose QC35 II with two other unidentified products. We’ll see what happens next week.
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