Even when your name is Google, establishing yourself in a new market is dangerous. Proof with the recent shutdown of its Stadia video game service. But in the smartphone market, the Californian giant seems determined to win, against Apple, Samsung, but also Chinese manufacturers such as Oppo or Xiaomi. For seven years, Google has been working on its smartphones, largely under the radar in France. But the arrival of the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro could change that.
On paper, the two devices are iterations of previous models, whose many qualities are no longer to be demonstrated: an “in-house” processor, a large OLED screen, high-end finishes and, above all, a sublime photographic quality that places the Pixel among the best on the market. All this, with prices much lower than those of Apple: compared to the iPhone 14 and its 1019 euros, the Pixel 7 is announced at 649 euros.
From the company in charge of Android, the world’s most popular mobile operating system, so many qualities seem to promise a bright future, with a mature product. The situation of Google, which manufactures its products, designs the software and certain components, is ideal to try to compete with Apple.
Points of sale tripled
According to the Nikkei economic media, Google has manufactured 8 million units of its Pixel 7 range and 4 million units of its most affordable version (Pixel 6a). With double sales ambitions compared to 2022. A figure that will certainly not allow Google to compete with Apple, which must sell 80 million units of its iPhone 14 range, but which makes Google a serious outsider for the next few years.
Another figure symbolizes this acceleration well: with Tech&Co, Google specifies that it has tripled the number of French sales outlets where its Pixel smartphones will be available. Go from 700 points of sale to 2,200 points of sale in a few months.
Specifically, Google ensures that its Pixels will now be highly visible in the stores of the main operators (Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom), while its previous models were mainly presented online.
On the Web, Google also wants to show itself more in the eyes of the French. Although you had to go to your own online store to get the previous Pixels, the new ones are sold on Amazon, but also on Cdiscount.
Since the forced disappearance of Huawei smartphones, and facing the Chinese brands (Oppo, Xiaomi, Vivo) whose image is yet to be built, Google finds itself facing the historical players Apple and Samsung. If the company gives itself the means, it already has cards in hand to consolidate itself as the third way.
Source: BFM TV
