Google Pixel 3A the user strikes back.

Once upon a time the phones had only 10Mpx and a price tag of less than 500 euros.

Those days are long over and the current premium phones go easily over the limit of 1000 euro.

The recent announcement of the Pixel 3A come as a surprise to the current trend.

The beginning of 2019 is the beginning of a new trend. The smartphone market declines.

More and more smartphone owners keep their phones for longer and longer.

The issues

User see an increase of the price of the smartphone, with no significant innovation.

In addition, something specific for the android smartphone market is the lack of support after 2 years for premium phones and 1 year for mid range.

Paying more than 1k euro for a phone,  a customer would expect to receive constant and just for 2 years to receive the latest security updates and don‘t receive new features seems like a big waste of money.

Google Pixel

In 2018, Google made an acquisition of the HTC design division. This move gave them strength to position themselves as a phone manufacturer.  

Their Pixel brand is positioned in the higher end of the market and they are one of the few who manufacturer who provide a longer support of their products, which is definitely on the right track.

However, even with a longer support, the lack of sales trend is catching up on them as well.

The Solution

The market is saturated, then try different market. Google is trying to position their products not only in the high end, but now going also for the mid-range market.

This approach looks like a fresh breath of air in a market constantly squeezing the customers to pay more and more.

I will be interested in how this move by Google will affect other players in the market. I would predict that the market previously dominated by Huawei (the mid-range) will adjust in a negative for  Huawei direction.

However, the end user will be the biggest winner, because they will have a bigger choice of quality phones for a better price.