With the Pixel 11, Google has abandoned the main reason I used to recommend Pixels
The Google Pixel 11 series arrived last Wednesday to a mixed reception. While there were interesting and noteworthy changes and upgrades made to Google’s newest quartet of flagship phones, I’ve been …
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The Google Pixel 11 series arrived last Wednesday to a mixed reception. While there were interesting and noteworthy changes and upgrades made to Google’s newest quartet of flagship phones, I’ve been stuck chewing over the universal price increases since the keynote ended.
Google, of course, didn’t tell us that prices have gone up during its presentation, so here’s a table to show you what I mean, compared to what the equivalent Pixel 10 model cost.
As we can see, it’s a fairly flat $100/£80 increase across the board. It also unfortunately means that the cheapest model in the line-up — the standard Pixel 11 — has seen the highest percentage price increase.
Price hikes are never good, but with the Pixel 11, it feels particularly damning.
I’ve long maintained that if I were to leave the consumer tech journalism business, and therefore had to buy my own phones again, I’d start with a Pro Pixel. Not just because Pixel phones are good to use and full of interesting features, but because they’ve been cheaper than the competition.
This feeling came about when the Pixel 6 series arrived in 2021. Like a lot of people, this was the moment when Google’s Pixel phones went from an also-ran in my mind to a Samsung/Apple-level big player in the smartphone hardware world. While the Pixel doesn’t account for as much of annual smartphone sales as those other two companies, I’ve started to see normal people buying and enjoying these phones, rather than them being wielded exclusively by my gadget-geek peers.
I think a large factor in the sudden rise of the Pixel was its price. Going back to the Pixel 6, it cost $599/£599 for the standard model and $ 899/£849 for the Pro (which is equivalent in size and features to the current Pro XL model). At the same time, Apple’s iPhone 13 and Samsung’s Galaxy S22 cost $799, while the iPhone 13 Pro Max and Galaxy S22 Ultra cost $1,099 and $1,199, respectively.
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