Google has started selling a long-delayed budget smartphone boasting the same high-quality camera and several other features available in fancier Pixel models that cost hundreds of dollars more. The Pixel 4a unveiled on Monday will be available Aug. 20 after months of delay caused by supply problems triggered by the pandemic.
It will cost USD 349, a USD 50 discount from a cheap Pixel released last year. It’s also a major markdown from other higher-end models in the existing product line-up that start at USD 799. The next versions of Google’s top-of-the-line Pixel phones will be released sometime this fall, Google said, without revealing their their price.
The budget-minded Pixel 4a is coming out four months after Apple released a discount iPhone, the SE, priced at USD 399. The low price helped spur iPhone sales at a time of soaring unemployment, as the economy plunged into a deep recession that is causing millions of households to curb their spending so they can pay rent and buy food.
It’s doubtful the Pixel 4a will reel in as many consumers as the iPhone SE, based on Google’s inability to make significant inroads as a device maker so far, despite generally positive reviews for the devices, especially their cameras.
Google so far has been selling fewer than 10 million Pixel phones a year since rolling out the product line in 2016, barely making a dent a market where more than 1 billion phones are shipped annually, according to IDC. (AP)