How does a cheaper Google Pixel sound to you? Such a welcome thought, isn’t it? Well, cross your fingers because that might just be launched soon.
According to the Economic Times India, Google is working on a midrange Pixel that’s meant for emerging markets such as India. The announcement is reportedly planned for July or August 2018, which is just a few months from now.
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When Google killed the Nexus line to give way to the Pixel series, no Google-branded smartphone really filled the mid-end category left by devices such as the Nexus 6P and 5X from 2015.
The Pixel lineup that has been released so far — one that is now totally designed by the California-based tech giant — is targeted at the premium market. The starting prices of 2016’s Google Pixel and Pixel XL at launch were $649 (about P33,886) and $769 (P40,152), respectively. For the current ones, the Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL, it’s $649 and $849 (P44,329), respectively.
When Google discontinued the Nexus line to give way to the Pixel series, no Google-branded smartphone really filled the midrange category left by devices such as the Nexus 6P and 5X from 2015. The Pixel handsets that have been released so far are targeted at the premium market.
We don’t know if “emerging markets” also include the Philippines. But India, the second largest smartphone market, should really be in the cards. The Economic Times India reports that during Google’s trade meets held in Malaysia, the United States, and the United Kingdom, its top executives shared with select Indian retailers the company’s consumer-product expansion plans.
One leading retailer was said to have stated: “Google is excited about the expansion of the consumer products business in India with the advent of the cheap 4G internet led by Reliance Jio and other operators which it says will help to realize maximum potential of these products.”
READ ALSO: Google Pixel follows in iPhone’s footsteps, but not in way you expect
Another retailer supposedly revealed that the tech company wants to first have a sizeable retail presence in the country before chasing market share. “Google’s expansion into neighborhood mobile-phone stores was decided after it found that these shops account for 36 percent of Pixel sales in India, next to e-commerce that accounts for 38 percent of sales,” the report says.
Sounds like what Xiaomi is doing now, no? Let’s just hope that Google will think of Philippine-based consumers who’d like to get their hands on its phones, too.
Image via The Verge on YouTube
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