Google Pixel Sees Huge Sales Growth, Has 2% of North American Market

Canalys' North American smartphone market share numbers are out, and the big mover for Q2 2022 is once again Google, which is seeing huge growth numbers thanks to the Pixel 6. Last quarter, Canalys had Google up 380 percent year over year, and this quarter, the company is up 230 percent! ArsTechnica adds: That sounds incredibly successful, but this is Google's tiny hardware division we're talking about, so it's all relative success. The company is now at 2 percent North American market share, having shipped 800,000 devices for Q2 2022. Along with last quarter, Google is now regularly hitting whole-digit market share numbers. That's good enough for fifth place, behind Apple (52 percent), Samsung (26 percent), Lenovo/Motorola (9 percent), and TCL (5 percent). Canalys also has a list of the best-selling models. The top five are all iPhones, of course, with the base model iPhone 13 taking the top spot, followed by the super-cheap iPhone SE. The iPhone 13 Mini, which is rumored to be selling so poorly that there won't be an iPhone 14 Mini, took the ninth spot. The first Android phone on the list, the flagship Galaxy S22 Ultra, clocks in at No. 6.

Not very Impressive!

[Gonoff]

Apple (52 percent)

Please explain why a, now distinctly average, device that is overpriced and has a poor interface that is little changed since the initial model does so well with you...

The only superior thing about Apple is their legal department!

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[account_deleted]

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[awwshit]

I was given an iPhone at work a number of years a go and just stuck with it. I also have no love for Google and no desire to have Google things up to my eye balls. I have no issue with Android generally and some of the hardware is interesting but getting Googled up I cannot do. It is not that I love Apple or am some kind of fan either, the iPhone is my only Apple device.

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[account_deleted]

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[fermion]

Google is not a consumer focused firm. No reasonable person is going to buy anything from them as no one knows why their marketing team will see a black cat and decide to cancel the product before they get hexed.

In the US Samsung has a quarter of the market, and most of the time Apple has half, give or take 5 or so percentage points. Worldwide, Apple gets outsold, often two to one.

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[awwshit]

I have a Pixel phone repaired under warranty at ibreakufix, that was kind of nice, easy. Other than the one that died under warranty, I've deployed around 40 Pixel phones at the office and everyone is happy with them.

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[fermion]

You have deployed them around the office. This is B2B which a Google can do. Not B2C. I have to use Google products now. It is 90%, but you canâ(TM)t have âoe#anchorâ URLs. It is the little things.

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[Sipper]

The Pixel phones have a Tensor security chip in them which makes them a good target for security-focused Android distributions such as https://grapheneos.org/ [grapheneos.org]

Marketing budget

[backslashdot]

They spent $100 million in marketing and only sold 800,000 devices per quarter? You realize that with a $100 million marketing spend, you can sell literal bags of shit and get better unit sales?
Marketing spend reference: https://advertisers.mediaradar... [mediaradar.com]

Re:Marketing budget

[Tailhook]

$100 million ad money for approximately $1.6 billion revenue (3.2 million devices annually at approximately ~$500/ea., reasonable guesswork there...) They aren't losing money.

Pixel is a crucial part of Google's whole Android platform; it's the current reference implementation of Android and provides Google with a platform for early rollout of new Android versions sans any third parties. It's widely used by serious Android developers as well. So it's not really about making big bucks, although they aren't trying to lose money either.

Google's phones are all I've ever used. They've been good devices and I'll have a 7 Pro next.

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[backslashdot]

Do they get the parts, material, and labor for free?

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[Tailhook]

Obviously not, and I can't imagine what sort of cognitive disfunction has you thinking someone suggested they did.

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[AmiMoJo]

Pixel phones also deserve credit for advancing smartphone camera quality beyond potato level. I mean there were some okay-ish cameras before Pixel came along, but nobody was doing computational photography like that. Now everyone is at it, with major professional camera manufacturers predicting that smartphones will equal their image quality in a few years.

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[Tablizer]

> You can sell bags of shit and get better unit sales

It worked for Compost, I mean Comcast.

They gave them away

[RemindMeLater]

Had a friend with a pixel 3a. They got a pixel 6a -- which sells for $450 -- for basically $50 after a $300 rebate and a pair of $100 pixel buds thrown in.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

And with a processor intended for the Pixel 5

[Babel-17]

Issues caused that now year older tech to be used in the Pixel 6. So the Pixel 7 could be getting a steep bump in performance and screen on time.

Pixel is the best phone for custom ROM

[schwit1]

Samsung makes excellent phones but the bootloader is locked for US models.

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[linuxguy]

The market for custom ROM users is likely less than minuscule.

I held on to Pixel phones for a long time

[linuxguy]

I very stubbornly avoided iphones and even Macs. I even used Linux desktops for more than a dozen years. Before that I was an Amiga user and debated for hours on end with my friends about the merits of Amiga platform over anything available at that time. Now I just want shit that works well.

1. Windows/Linux laptops with Intel CPUs are no longer competitive with M1/M2 Macbooks. Performance is subpar, and battery life is utter garbage. So I said goodbye to garbage.
2. After using Android tablets for many years. I seriously gave ipads a shot. I was blown away. They are very fast and responsive. And they just work.
3. My pixel 3 lasted half a day on battery. And stuttered badly and unpredictably when I asked it to pull up maps for example. So I gave iphone a shot. And again I was blow away.
4. I have about 6 Android watches. In the drawer. These things are utter garbage. I kept buying the newer versions, hoping that it would be much better. I now use Apple watch. It just works.

Apple iphone, ipad, Apple watch and Macbook are very very well integrated, compared to the non-Apple world. For example, I can get my SMS on all of these devices. Or make calls from them as well. I don't have to individually configure wifi on each device... on and on and on. It is ridiculous how far ahead Apple is with this ecosystem.

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[theshowmecanuck]

Most of what you say is bullshit. So you're saying it's important to pay 2 or 3 thousand dollars for a Mac because you perceive you can open a Word document faster? Or an IDE screams? What? I have always bought 2nd from the top intel or AMD because the newest stuff is way overpriced for the benefit it brings. I almost never game anymore and my machines are used for work or as entertainment systems. Fine if you like to walk around like your shit doesn't stink as a way to compensate for paying 2 or 3 times wh

LG's fault

[unimind]

This is obviously due to LG's exit from the market.

Android isn't supported well

[theshowmecanuck]

Anyone making Android devices does not seem to want to support them well. LG was one of the worst, and likely why they aren't in the phone business anymore. Samsung are just dog shit in support. Late updates, limited updates. And if something stops working, the first thing their support line people do is blame you no matter what. I had a Samsung tablet once when the craze took off on them. It lasted a few months and then a known video cable issue caused the screen to turn off. When I called to RMA the guy o

I use pixel phones and get on fine with them

[nothinginparticular]

We have about 4 in the house now. Personally I find them the path of least resistance as they: are cheap, work very well, run well with the google apps, still get regular updates a year or two later, none have so far stopped working. If one gets dropped or a better one comes out I can just buy another because they're so cheap. Yes you can buy better, but you run the risk of dropping it or getting it stolen, and you're less likely to want to upgrade. You can buy cheaper but you end up with a dubious Chinese