If you’ve been rooting for Google Pixel devices to finally “make it” it looks like your wishes have been answered. The tech giant’s report for the second quarter of 2019 says that their Pixel sales have doubled as compared to the same period last year. They attribute its largely to the release of the budget version of their current Pixel 3 flagship, which is of course the Pixel 3a. This may be one of the few times that they have announced good news regarding their own smartphones.
According to an article on Tech Crunch, Google CEO Sundar Pichai himself gave the good news on a call reporting on the performance of Pixel devices for Q2 2019. Unit sales of the smartphones “grew more than 2x year-over-year”, he said. Aside from the launch of the more affordable Pixel 3a, the growth is also attributed to expanding its distribution and partnerships with T-Mobile, Sprint, US Cellular, Spectrum Mobile, etc. Previously they were only available at their own store and Verizon.
However, no numbers were disclosed previously and even now so we can’t really know the baseline for this so-called sales report. It does make sense that their numbers would go up given that the Pixel 3a is priced more affordably while still maintaining most of their flagship device’s most important features. And unlike its predecessors, they didn’t have any major hardware problems upon launch so that may also be a factor as to why more people are buying it or even the other, older Pixel devices.
The upcoming Pixel 4 is expected to be officially announced sometime October and already the rumour mills are working overtime. Some leaked images have shown a top bezel packed with sensors (camera plus others) so that means the much-maligned notch may be gone. The Pixel 4 may have a display between 5.6-5.8 inches while the Pixel 4 XL will be 6.2-6.4 inches. There are also rumours that the back will have a “square camera” in the top left corner.
Let’s see if Pixel’s winning streak will continue with the release of the Pixel 4 and if there will also be a Pixel 4a. Given the success of the Pixel 3a, that’s almost a sure thing.
