Pixel perfect: 2019 was best year yet for Google's mobile hardware biz, says analyst

2019 was a good year for Google's mobile hardware division, according to figures from analyst house IDC, which reports record Pixel sales of 7.2 million units – up 52 per cent on the previous year. IDC veep Francisco Jeronimo said that this means the Chocolate Factory surpassed Android stalwart OnePlus in sales figures. . @ …

[Throatwarbler Mangrove]

Bah!

Setting aside the question of whether one wants to use Google software at all, the Pixel line is a disappointment, and the 4a was a step backward. First of all, Google wants to charge Apple-like dollars for their product, which would be fine if they supported the product like Apple does. If you buy an iPhone, you know that you'll get many years of use and support out of it; if you buy a Pixel, you get three years of security and software updates from the product release date, which, in practical terms means fewer than three years for most users. The 4a was also a step backward because of the aforementioned battery life issues as well as the removal of the fingerprint sensor and replacement with Face Unlock, which is crap (I know there are many people who believe that biometric unlock is a terrible idea on principle, but I find fingerprint unlock to be sufficiently convenient to be worth the putative risk). If Google wants to be flagship phone manufacturer, they need to step up their game.

[peachy001]

Re: Bah!

The 4a has not yet released. The 4 (XL and small have). 4a was due this month, or last, but things happened. Google do indeed need to up their game. The 3a devices were more aggressively positioned, and I suspect they were the bulk of sales. The Pixel 4 was a hot mess, and was lambasted prior to launch by the head guy. I forget his name, but even he knew that the battery life was poor, and the device was way behind the competition. The Soli radar stuff was just a completely unrequested feature, as was removing the fingerprint sensor. The stills taken by Pixels are great, the video is good, audio recording less so. Worse still, they are using a 765G in the Pixel 5.

[Throatwarbler Mangrove]

Re: Bah!

Yes, sorry, my post should reference the Pixel 4, not 4a.

[bengoey49]

Re: Bah!

Google charge you more if you want the 128GB version of the Pixel ( £100 ). For the same upgrade to 128GB from the base 64GB iPhone will cost you only £50.

[Anonymous Coward]

"if they supported the product like Apple does"

Badly?

[peachy001]

Couple things wrong with the article, imo, largely not helped by Google's naming conventions. The Pixel 4 (name of the range and the small device in the range) small phone did indeed have a shockingly poor sized battery, though competitors with similar sized devices didn't have 4000mA to 5000mA batteries. The competitors to the 4XL did though. Also, the Pixel 4a XL isn't happening, they'll only release a 4a. Incidentally, the cloud storage free full sized backup was removed from the range, which meant that the Pixel 4 devices were even less compelling. As an aside, the Pixel.5 is rumoured to be much cheaper this year, and also have a weaker processor. Snapdragon 765G or 768G.... I forget.

[Anonymous Coward]

Not amused to have my extremely expensive OG Pixel not even receive security updates as of October last year. Very poor compared with Apple.

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder how much better they would do if they expanded beyond the 32 countries where they sell Pixel phones today. I mean comparing with Apple's 119 countries where you can get an iPhone from an official dealer.

[bengoey49]

Not a lot better because of the exorbitant price ( considering quality of the hardware compared to iPhones ). Most important is the fact that compared to Apple , Google have poor support as far as back up service is concerned outside the US compared to Apple. For example if you need to change the battery Google does not provide the service in the UK and probably other countries outside the US. My original Pixel ( Costed £500 on Sale in Nov. 2016 ) has no more updates since October 2019. The battery needs replacement but probably is not worth replacing it as I am not sure how good is iSmash to replace the battery after my daughter had bad experience with them.

[RyokuMas]

Heard this before...

"In 2019 shipments grew 52% YoY to reach the highest volume ever..."

I remember reading this sort of thing about Windows Phone a few years back: just because units have been shipped, it doesn't mean they've actually sold...