14 DAY TRIAL // Google recently unveiled two new smartphones, Pixel and Pixel XL, during an event held in San Francisco. The phones were developed together with HTC, although they only carry Google’s branding. A new report shows that Google might sell 3-4 million of these phones before the end of the year.
The prediction was made by an analyst from Digitimes Research, and the report also added that Pixel phones could make up 40-50% of HTC’s shipments in the second half of the year. HTC’s shipments might reach 6.5-7 million units in the second half of 2016, up less than 10% from the 5.8-6.1 million units sold in the first half.
Google’s Pixel smartphones have been compared to Apple’s recent devices, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, considering that they come with the latest specs. However, Apple’s smartphones are expected to record sales between 40 and 60 million units per quarter. Another flagship series is Samsung’s Galaxy S lineup, which manages to record shipments of tens of millions units per quarter.
Google Pixel phones are already available for pre-order
Google’s Pixel phones aren’t expected to reach the same level of shipments in the beginning, but considering that they do come with the latest specs and software, their popularity will surely increase gradually.
Currently, the Pixel smartphones are sold in the US at the Google Store, Verizon, and Best Buy. They will launch on October 20 and be made available at multiple retailers in six countries. Google offers the Pixel phones in three color variants, blue, black and white.
The smartphones come with the latest Snapdragon 821 processor, 4GB of RAM, and Android 7.1 Nougat out of the box. They’re also the only phones to offer Google Assistant and unlimited storage through Google Photos, including for 4k videos.
In addition, the phones come with photography features, like the EIS 2.0 video stabilization tool that won’t be made available on other devices. Smart Storage, the feature that automatically deletes backed-up photos and videos when storage is full, won’t find its way to other devices either.