For over a year now, Google has been teasing its loyal customer base with reports of a cheaper version of the Pixel which is NOT going to be sold in the United States. Between then and now, Google launched the Pixel 2, a revolutionary version of the Pixel. While quite a lot of people were happy with this new phone, it left eager fans disappointed because the promised budget phone wasn’t announced as promised.
After quite a long wait, Google announced it is working on building a mid range Pixel smartphone for “price sensitive” markets in countries including India. According to reports, the phone is expected to hit the markets around July or August this year. The company has solidified its strategy for India, including bringing its brand, Nest, into the country. Apart from Nest, Google also plans on bringing Google Wi Fi and the Google Pixelbook to India.
The Pixelbook is a $ 1,000 premium Chromebook which was announced in October last year and is seen as the first real competitor from Google to take on Apple’s MacBook and Microsoft’s Surface Laptop. With Nest, Google plans on joining the intelligent home automation market with products like a doorbell, alarm system and smoke detector in the course of the next year.
With India expanding on the internet usage front, Google has grand plans for the country. If trends are to be taken into account, then Google is definitely headed towards providing phones at a user friendly rate. Furthermore, Google plans on stepping up its offline presence by opening up more brick and mortar stores. This is going to be made possible through the hardware store, Redington as well as through in store branding and specific signages in selected stores.
There are 1.2 billion mobile subscribers in India, and players like Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, and Apple have a healthy lead in smartphone market share. In October 2017, India overtook the US as the world’s second largest smartphone market after China.