Google’s Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro smartphones go up against Apple

The history of capitalism is littered with products that were great, but still failed. The video format Betamax is one such famous flop: technically better than VHS, but usurped due to its lack of customer friendliness and marketing.

And for a while, it seemed like Google’s Pixel smartphone line was doomed to a similar fate: overlooked, underfunded, and despite some obvious benefits, mostly unremarkable.

But with a slew of announcements this week, it seems Google might, after many years, be taking the Pixel brand seriously again — and based on Google’s own optimism, there may well be reason for consumers to as well.

At an event Thursday, Google announced a new Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro with the expected improvements in performance and camera quality. There is now finally a Pixel Watch, which folds in the features of Fitbit after Google acquired it. And a promising-looking tablet is on the way next year.

What’s more, the Pixels are aggressively priced at $799 for the Pixel 7 and $1,179 for the Pixel 7 Pro. While certainly not cheap, those numbers significantly undercut similarly specced phones from Apple or Samsung.

So for 800 bucks, you can buy a phone with a screen and camera nearly as good as the best high-end phones, which cost almost twice as much.

It’s an aggressive move from Google, and one expected to have an effect. Nikkei reports that the company doubled orders to 8 million units. Keep in mind that Apple sells 10 times that amount a year; but given that some past models have sold 200,000 units in a quarter, it’s a sign of optimism nonetheless.

It represents a change in approach by Google — that is, it feels more purposeful, thoughtful and targeted.

For the unfamiliar: Google’s Pixel phone was first released in 2013 and was always meant to be a sort of halo product from the maker of Android, the world’s most popular smartphone operating system. The idea was that, rather than the slew of different varieties of Android from Samsung, HTC, OnePlus and others, a Pixel phone would give you pure Android straight from the source. Google also sought to distinguish itself by making the camera on Pixel phones among the best, and in that goal it admirably succeeded: Pixel phone cameras match or exceed the best from Samsung and Apple.

Where it did not succeed, however, was in sales or in moving the market much. What Google wanted with Pixel was akin to what Microsoft did and is still doing with the Surface line: produce the best example of what an operating system could do to both create a new hardware revenue stream for the parent company, but also encourage partner companies to up their game.

Unlike Microsoft’s slow success with Surface, however, Pixel sales were always paltry, and things were made worse by the fact that early models were plagued by bugs.

But the more recent Pixel 6 models were well-reviewed and sold slightly better. My time with one after Google sent me a device was positive: the camera is as great as everyone says and, unlike the Android of yesteryear, the software is clean and fast.

The new Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro look to follow on that success. There is also a Pixel Watch that seems likely to finally give Android users an equivalent device to the Apple Watch. Early looks are cautiously optimistic.

The company also showcased a Pixel Tablet that will launch in 2023. While it will function as a normal iPad-like tablet, the device will also be able to be “docked” on a base that will both charge the device and turn into a smart speaker

It’s clever. Rather than trying to compete with Apple and make a strict iPad competitor — and likely failing in the process — Google is looking to its pre-existing strengths in smart home tech and differentiating itself in a useful way. In also adding a sort of seamlessness — you can soon control any smart home tech from any Pixel device — it adds another potentially alluring feature.

It’s the kind of thing Google needs to do. The lucrative higher end of the tech market is dominated by Apple because the products work well, and work well together.

It is unlikely Google will ever really compete at that level, and indeed that may not be its aim. Instead, it may simply be willing to produce a compelling product lineup that produces a comparatively small but growing amount of revenue, and encourages its Android partners to do the same.

It’s a long climb. But with the most recent announcements, what once seemed implausible — that Google could turn the Pixel line into something worth taking seriously — now seems a little more possible.