If you study the latest Google reports, you will notice an interesting thing. It turns out that the company has a gadget business that brings it $ 2 billion a year. Are you surprised? Seriously, of course, it is clear that the company sells smartphones and smart home gadgets with the letter “G” on the case, but it is hard to believe that such an activity can bring it so much money. These numbers still do not reflect the whole picture. Now that the Pixel 5 is just around the corner, it would be good to analyze the company's effectiveness in relation to gadgets and understand what is wrong with them and what the company is doing wrong in promoting this idea.
The first Google Pixel was good, but things didn't go very well after that.
Google Pixel 4 Sales
Usually the end of the year is a record for equipment sales. During the holidays all over the world, tech fans spend money and buy the most. They shop for the New Year and Christmas holidays, and they also buy everything on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Accordingly, sales of almost all companies are growing. Everyone, but not Google with its Pixel 4 and Pixel 4XL.
The Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL, Google's latest flagship smartphones, launched in the US on October 24, 2019. Many technical reviewers were initially enthusiastic about the new products. They had new technologies for unlocking, a new camera and a top processor. Then they began to note the low battery life, but they still admitted that the smartphone was cool.
However, how many people, besides you and me – technology fans, know what a Google Pixel is? Ask your parents about this, not to mention your grandparents. Everyone knows iPhone, Samsung and Huawei, but not Google. For them, Google is, at best, just a search engine, instead of which it is better to use Yandex. So why is it so difficult for Google to capture the mainstream market?
First Google Pixel
The original Google Pixel was released in October 2016 for $ 649, which was the price of a flagship smartphone then. In the same year, the Samsung Galaxy S7 was priced at $ 699. The release marked the death of the Nexus line and received good reviews. We thought it was one of the best smartphones at Android.
The second Google Pixel, which replaced the first, was still not bad, but it was going to the fourth.
Gradually, Google's camera software has earned a reputation for being the best in the industry, despite the not very high resolution of 12 megapixels. Google had the best camera, the cleanest Android interface, and a compact form factor that was becoming increasingly rare. Smartphones had already begun to grow in size, as did the camera “pimple” that was sticking out more and more.
Everything went well, but then the Google Pixel 4 came along. Any movie fanatic will tell you that after the trilogy, there is only one place to go, and that is to go back to the beginning, the origin story. Google had to go back to what made the Pixel line popular – flagship performance, clean software, and the best smartphone camera on the market.
Why Google Pixel 4 is good
In many ways, the Mountain View device lived up to these core values. The Pixel was compact and had Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 855 SoC. The software was still fantastic. The main camera was as good, if not better, than any other camera. But it was the smartphone industry's relentless need for innovation that may have forced Google to take the risk. In doing so, she made mistakes that truly damaged his flagship phone.
Soli Radar technology is a good example of this. Designed to use Face ID from Apple and provide a faster, more secure unlock method for the Pixel lineup, it worked well most of the time. But Google made a tough decision and followed the path Apple by ditching the fingerprint scanner. Users Android don't like being forced to walk a certain path this way. In addition, the scanner did not work in all regions. This was the real problem.
The Google Pixel 4 could be called a good phone, but something was missing.
Other features included in Soli Radar, such as Motion Sense, felt unfinished and useless. Of course, you can rewind tracks by swiping your hand over the top of the phone, but few people used it on a regular basis.
Another glitch happened when Google decided to use two camera sensors, while even Apple already had three, not to mention Samsung and Huawei. At the same time, zoom was chosen as the second sensor, and not super-wide. I did not appreciate this move and many in our Telegram chat supported me. It's just that super-width in everyday life is needed much more often than a small increase.
Google Pixel 4 sales
Google never released sales figures, but earlier this month the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL were discontinued less than a year after their launch. This is about something, yes it says. Especially since the $ 400 Google Pixel 3a sold well by all accounts, offering customers the same great camera capabilities as the flagship Pixel 3, but at a more affordable price point.
The “budgetary” was still compact and light, which also pleased people. It also had a headphone jack, which also attracted the attention of those who were not chasing wireless technology.
At some point, Google changed its mind and released the Google Pixel 4a in a relatively compact body and with only one camera. The value of the telemodule was still dubious, so refusing it did not harm anyone. The Soli Radar feature has also disappeared and has been replaced by the standard rear-mounted fingerprint scanner that many wanted to bring back. And there is also a headphone jack. For $ 350, the smartphone is really cool. After all, things cannot be considered in isolation from their value.
Pixels are still selling worse than they could. Maybe someday something will change.
However, rumors about the Pixel 5 flagship phone are still floating around, and all signs point to Google's decision to rethink its approach. According to rumors, the novelty will receive Snapdragon 76 5G, despite the fact that it is not the top-end, but with it the smartphone will be significantly cheaper, and it will work in much the same way.
Rumor has it that the Pixel 5 will only come in one (large) size. According to the leaks, it will be like the Pixel 4 XL. Most likely, all the rumors will be a little mistaken and we will see something in between, but at this stage, the device simply cannot but cause a stir.
So why hasn't Google technology still conquered the world, unlike its search engine and operating system Android? Google unnecessarily chased technology when it had to work with proven solutions. Much has been done in vain and this has affected sales even in the home region. And the company would not hurt to start exploring more markets.
And even if, for obvious reasons, China is closed to her, there are still many countries in the world where a smartphone would sell well. Of course, there are gray dealers, but as I said at the beginning, how many people, besides you and me, know about the Pixel? We need advertising, promotions, promotion and the like. After all, Spotify was a bit of an echo to many, and now it is gaining traction despite skepticism.