Recently when Google announced its "first" two phones the Pixel and the Pixel XL, it surprised a number of its fans with the pricing of the new devices. A lot of Android users, who like the stuff coming from Google because they have been on a Nexus phone, also associate the Google phones, or at least the phones that Google supported, with value for money. Even last year when Google and its hardware partners launched rather expensive Nexus 5X and the Nexus 6P the two phones were relatively affordable compared to the latest iPhone or the Galaxy Note. But this year the Pixel phones are priced just like the iPhones or for that matter the top-end Samsung Galaxy phones.
Now, the high price in itself is not that much of an issue. After all, a high-end premium phone will indeed cost more. The stranger bit with the pixel price is that these phones don't seem to be in the same league as the Galaxy S7 or the iPhone 7 as far as the pure hardware is concerned. And yet, Google is pricing them in such a way.
The design and build quality of the Pixel phones is definitely not as great as the design and build quality of the iPhone 7 or the Galaxy S7. In fact last year's all-metal Huawei Nexus 6P looks more stylish and polished compared to the large-screen Pixel XL this year. The two Pixel phones also lack a few features that other high-end phones have. Unlike the iPhone 7 and the Galaxy S7, the Pixel phones aren't waterproof. They also don't have stereo speakers.
And yet the Pixel phones cost almost as much as the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus in India. The question is why? Why would Google price these two phones at a level where they seem overpriced? The reason is because it has to.
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