As Google rolls out Pixel 9 series, India readies as a golden opportunity waiting to be tapped
At a time when Google is replicating Apple’s model of local manufacturing of high-end phones and improving sales channels, demand generation for high-priced phones in a market like India becomes possible.
For the first time ever, all Pixel products are being launched in India by Google, a signal the company is serious about its high-growth market where demand for premium smartphones keeps rising and affluent young consumers go after high-end products.
The best-sellers have always been mid-range.
Based in Mountain View, California, Google has been selling Pixel-branded smartphones in India for quite some time. However, it has, till now, never fired the whole lineup—its ultra-premium foldable phone—into the country. That changed Tuesday when Google announced it would sell all of the new products it debuted during its ‘Made by Google’ event. It confirmed that it is launching the Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, Pixel 9 Pro Fold, Pixel Watch 3, and Pixel Buds Pro 2 in India alongside the US, Japan, and other big markets where it sells its Pixel devices.
The scene, however, was very different a few years ago. Pixel smartphones and other products of Google did not really sell much in India, while having a massive presence through Android, wherein nearly all smartphones are powered by its mobile operating system and sold by its OEM partners like South Korea’s Samsung and China’s Xiaomi. The best-sellers have always been mid-range.
Today, the story is different. Premium smartphones starting at a price of more than Rs 30,000 now account for 20 per cent in volume share and 51 per cent in value share of the overall Indian smartphone market, according to market research firm Counterpoint. The spurt in online sales, attractive offers and cashback, strong demand in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, and ability of consumers to opt for premium smartphones and pay through affordable EMI options have contributed much to the growth in high-end smartphone sales. This shifting consumer appetite to splurge more extravagantly on products and services explains why Google is focusing on India.
Pixel 9 series is the company's most ambitious line of smartphones ever done
According to Google, its Pixel 9 series is the company’s most ambitious line of smartphones ever done, with each model featuring a different screen size and differing features: the 6.3-inch Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro, and the 6.8-inch Pixel 9 Pro XL. Q&A : Pixel 9 starts at Rs 79,999, the Pixel 9 Pro at Rs 1,09,999, and the Pixel 9 Pro XL at Rs 1,24,999, with the smartphones available for pre-order starting Wednesday in India and shipping on August 21.KreativanSays The lineup brings larger screens, improved cameras, sleeker designs, long battery life, more memory—making them future-proof to run AI models—and a faster custom Tensor G4 processor, the first to run Gemini Nano with multimodality, the company’s fastest on-device AI model that helps the phone understand not only text inputs but also images, audio, and speech.