Google earlier this month unveiled its this year’s flagship – Google Pixel and Pixel XL. Pixel was one of the most hyped smartphones of 2016 with endless rumours and leaks about the design, specifications etc.
As far as specifications concerned, Pixel comes with a 5 inch 1080p display while Pixel XL sports a 5.5 inch Quad HD display. Both the devices have AMOLED Display panels. The phones have the Quad-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 Chipset that comes with a quad core processor having two cores clocked at 2.15 GHz and two cores clocked at 1.6 GHz. It comes in two storage options i.e. 32GB and 128GB with 4GB LPDDR4 RAM. A 2770 mAh is in the Pixel while a 3450 mAh is in the Pixel XL. Both the devices also have Pixel imprint fingerprint sensor at the back which is surrounded by that famous glass plate. And yes, the Pixel devices have a 3.5mm Headphone jack in addition to USB Type-C with Quick Charge support.
Both the devices come with 12.3 MP rear facing camera with 1.55 micron pixels size and f/2.0 aperture. Google boasted quite a few features about the new devices and one of them was the camera. The camera on the new Pixel devices received a rating of 89 from DXO Mark which is highest in any smartphone. For the comparison, iPhone 7 got the rating of 86.
Google will sell the device in India starting at Rs 57,000 which is about Rs 13,000 more when we compare it converted price from US ($649). Well, this is not the first time a smartphone has been priced so high than other countries; thanks to taxes. Nevertheless, is Pixel worth spending that much money?
No doubt, it is a beautiful device and Google has done a tremendous job of giving a new design language to Pixel devices. Specially that glass plate at the back. Further, Pixel combines the best of software with the best of hardware available in the smartphone industry right now. So one must think it should be worth the money. Well, it surely won’t disappoint you but keeping the competition in mind, as of now Pixel is directly competing with iPhone 7 which means Google is trying to target the potential iPhone 7 buyers who certainly make up for a small percentage of the smartphone community of India.
Moreover, recent reports have suggested that more and more people in countries like India are shifting to Android devices due to Apple’s premium pricing. Alas!, Google is following the same pattern it seems. Take this as an example, An Apple fanboy who has the budget to buy an iPhone 7 would never go for Pixel. However, Google will be surely benefited by the Note 7 discontinuation. Note 7 was priced somewhat similar but we have to keep in mind that Note series has their own fan base and attracting them will not be that easy. Further, Pixel XL is further priced at Rs 67,000 which would then seem out of the league for an ex-Note 7 user.
In our opinion, Google Pixel and Pixel XL are worth their current international prices but for Indian market they are over-priced. India being a price sensitive market, Pixel devices will have a tough time above Rs 57,000. Earlier, Google used to aggressively price its devices in India until Motorola’s Nexus 6. However, Google regained its reputation with Nexus 6P but dumping the Nexus line up for Pixel devices which are priced as high as iPhones doesn’t makes sense.
Google Pixel devices are up for pre-orders on Flipkart and are expected to ship on October 20. Let us know in the comment section below about your opinions on Google Pixels’ prices.