Technology giant Google has admitted the reason why it is looking at capturing the mid-range segment of the smartphone market with its next launch. The company says that there is too much competition in the premium smartphone market segment. Google is expected to showcase its new mid-range smartphones from the Pixel range during its I/O 2019 developers’ conference that is scheduled to begin on May 7 and go on till May 9. Numerous reports about Google’s upcoming Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL smartphones have surfaced online which give us a fair idea about what to expect from the two handsets.
At an earnings call with the reporters, Alphabet’s Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat said that sales of Pixel smartphones in Q1 2019 were affected by an industry-wide pressure on high-end handsets. The sales of the company‘s Pixel smartphones have slid down as compared to the same time last year. To be more specific, she said that “some of the recent pressures in the premium smartphone market” led to the fall.
However, she did not mention what these pressures exactly are. But then, it can safely be assumed that she is referring to a heightened competition from the likes of Apple and Samsung. Other than this, the high prices of the Pixel smartphones are also driving away from consumer demand.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai was also present at the call, and he got questioned about whether investors should have concerns that the company’s efforts on the hardware front are not able to do much to impact its overall revenue. In fact, an analyst even openly said whether Pixel devices were representative of Microsoft‘s smartphone business, which we all know failed.
It is worth mentioning that the search giant never breaks out its hardware-related products quarterly earnings report. And in the last quarter, Google’s hardware-related earnings have grown to a revenue of $5.5 billion in spite of the fall in phone sales. This can be due to an increase in the sales of its Chromecast devices, laptops, Nest products, and other devices that it sells.
To recall, Google Pixel 3 was launched at a price that was lesser than flagship handsets from Apple and Samsung. The Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL are touted to come with a best-in-class camera. At Google I/O 2019 that is scheduled for next month, the company is expected to launch its Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a smartphones.
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