The Pixel and the Pixel XL have been rumored for launch on the 4th of October, and now, Google has confirmed a phone-centric event for the same date. The minimalistic teaser starts off with a search bar and slowly transforms into the silhouette of the phone. The short url mentioned in the video description gets redirected to madeby.google.com.
It doesn't take much to join the dots here — This is phone hardware that is coming in from Google, aka the new Pixel phones that will be launched instead of Nexus phones this year. What is interesting is that this teaser was aired on several prominent television channels in USA, and close to prime times, indicating that Google is pushing the devices much more aggressively than it has any prior phone before these.
Google will be hosting the event on 4th October at 9am in San Francisco, and going by all the clues so far, the Pixel will be marketed as the first phones to be heavily influenced by Google.
The news does not stop here though. Before Google announced the event, series of new information flowed regarding the new devices.
First, one of the Pixel devices made an appearance in a Nest advertisement aired in the Netherlands.
The phone that is used in the ad matches the renders of the device and the leaked front assembly. It is not clear which of the two Pixel phones is shown here, but seeing that both the Pixel are essentially the same design in different dimensions, that should not be a surprise.
Next, the Pixel devices, both of them, had a few live images leaked. The phones are showed off side by side, and you can make out the metallic body of the devices along with the half-glass backs.
The front of the device is also pictured, and again, it matches all that we have seen so far, including the balanced-but-large front bezels. The Pixel XL is shown to have a standard lockscreen setup, but the smaller Pixel is in middle of booting up, showing the rumored-but-assumed-fake new bootanimation on the devices. You can find a video of the bootanimation here, and yes, it does look like Angry Bees.
The last bit of information is related to the crucial, selling points of the device: the price. AndroidPolice mentions the pricing of the smaller, 5″ Pixel could begin at $649. This price is speculated for the 32GB variant of the smallest of the two devices, meaning that higher memory options (if they exist) and the larger 5.5″ Pixel XL will cost upwards of this price. The Google Daydream View headset is speculated to be at $80, but things could change closer to launch.
The source mentions that the Pixel will have financing options available from Google, and they won't require Fi, although it is unknown for which markets these financing options will be offered. Additional warranty and accidental damage coverage options will also be available for the phones, rumored at $99 for the Pixel and $119 for the Pixel XL. The phones are likely to be sold via the Google Store, and interestingly, Verizon is rumored to be an exclusive retail partner for selling the Pixels in physical stores in the States.
AndroidPolice does give it a lower confidence rating than it did with the renders that they released. So the pricing can change till the official announcement is made by Google.
The pricing is definitely a shocker, as it is far cry from what the Nexus brand stood for. The Nexus 5 with its base variant of 16GB came at $349 at launch and $399 for the 32GB variant. The Nexus 6P, which is considered one of the first Nexus to cater to a more premium audience, launched at $499 for the 32GB variant. So Google ditching the Nexus branding on these devices and opting for a separate Pixel branding makes some sense from a pricing perspective as these phones in their currently rumored pricing do not resemble Nexus at all.
The Pixel devices are a new territory for Google in more than a few ways. While the pricing is hard to digest, and the design would come off as uninspired, we are still speculating at best at what are parts of a bigger picture. Perhaps there is a grand scheme of things that is only privy to Google right now, or perhaps Google truly does not know what it is doing this year. We will have to wait till the 4th of October to find out.
What are your thoughts on the Pixel and the Pixel XL so far? Let us know in the comments below!
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