On Tuesday at Google’s annual developer’s conference, I/O, the company announced its new, cheaper Pixel lineup — the Pixel 3a and 3a XL — to much fanfare. The bullish feelings surrounding the Pixel franchise were a stark difference from the prior week when Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai admitted to sluggish sales of its flagship Pixel 3. The lower costs, powerful feature set, and wider distribution might give the Pixel 3a a chance to capture a meaningful part of the smartphone market. Yet, Google’s delicate relationship with other device makers and relatively small worldwide market share today make it unlikely that the Pixel 3a will help Google oust its top competitors.
Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories. Driving on Interstate 101 from San Francisco to Silicon Valley, freshly updated billboards line the highway comparing Google’s new Pixel 3a with Apple’s iPhone X. The biggest difference being touted on the billboards is the price: $399 for the Pixel 3a versus $999 for the iPhone X. And under the prices, smaller text offers a more subtle point: “One has Google,” the billboard reads. “The other is Google.” The billboards were part of a series of jabs at Apple that Google made during its annual developer’s conference last week. During Tuesday’s keynote, Google proudly showed off a side-by-side comparison of a photo taken in a dark setting supposedly using an iPhone X and a Pixel 3a. With its Night Sight feature — which essentially lets the camera see in the dark — the Pixel’s photo was the clear winner. The amphitheater, filled with Google fanatics, erupted in cheer. Google The bullish feelings surrounding the Pixel franchise were a stark difference from the prior week when Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai admitted to sluggish sales of its flagship Pixel 3. During Google’s quarterly earnings call, Pichai blamed industry-wide “headwinds” facing the high-end smartphone market — likely referencing the consumer trend of lengthening upgrade cycles.
That “headwind,” in part, caused Apple’s iPhones sales to decline by 20% last quarter compared to the same period the year prior. But with the launch of a phone that’s half the cost of its predecessor (the Pixel 3 is now priced at $799), Google is feeling particularly frisky. “The Pixel 3a will get more notice from consumers,” Frank Gillett, a Principal Analyst at Forrester, told Business Insider in a recent interview. “And it will be a big step forward for Google in showing original equipment manufacturers [OEMs] and customers what the minimum bar is for a quality Android phone at mid-market prices, as well as for premium smartphones.” With the Pixel 3a, Google has been able to keep many of the beloved features from the Pixel 3 — including its impressive camera and automatic call screening — while keeping costs low with a less powerful processor and cheaper, polycarbonate outer layer. Read more: Here’s how Google’s new $400 Pixel 3a compares to the more expensive Pixel 3 Google’s camera strategy has been particularly important. While other companies, like Apple, have
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