Google’s New Smartphone Strategy Comes Into Focus (Premium)

Multiple leaks of the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4a 5G in recent days provide a clearer picture of how Google will move forward in the smartphone market, but reading between the lines I think I finally understand why Google delayed releasing the Pixel 4a.

As you probably know, Google launched the first Pixel smartphone line in late 2016 as a way to better compete with Apple’s iPhone. But sales have been less than spectacular, and the firm has sold fewer phones each year since 2017. The one bright spot, however, was the low-end Pixel 3a family that Google launched in early 2019. Here, Google finally found a recipe for success, at least within the confines of its small marketshare, and that success, combined with the disastrous Pixel 4 lineup from late 2019, has clearly helped the firm shape a new strategy for moving forward.

Had the Pixel 4 succeeded in any way---and really, it was a low bar, it only had to outsell the poorly-received Pixel 3 lineup---things might have proceeded as before, with Google releasing low-end or midmarket “a” phones in the first half of each year and flagship handsets in the second half. But the Pixel 4 tanked, leading among other things to the departure of Google’s Mark Levoy, who had spearheaded Pixel’s computational photography efforts.

Pixel fans will probably be dealing with the ramifications of Levoy’s absence for years to come. But with COVID ravaging the world this past year, many were surprised when May came and went without the release of a budget-friendly Pixel 4a. That was the month when Google had released the Pixel 3a a year earlier, after all, and the pandemic was/is the perfect time to release a value-focused handset. And Apple’s inexpensive iPhone SE had launched to great success just a month earlier.

But May did come and go. And then June. And then July. And it seemed like Google was adrift, with its ineptness in smartphone design spreading into its product release schedule as well. By the time it finally announced the Pixel 4a in early August for a late August release, it seemed like Google had sapped whatever excitement it might have otherwise generated.

But then a funny thing happened. Reviewers love the Pixel 4a, and for the same basic reasons they had previously celebrated the iPhone SE. It’s affordable, fun, and cute, and it delivers great value in a market segment that most reviewers routinely ignore. The Pixel 4a even manages to upstage the iPhone SE in some crucial ways with its bigger display, additional storage, superior camera, and lower price.

So … why wait? Why not just release the Pixel 4a in May as was originally planned?

Looking at all of the recent Pixel 4a 5G and Pixel 5 leaks over the past week, I think I can see why Google adjusted the schedule so that the three handsets will be released nearly back-to-back. I’m still confused about the names---it seems like maybe all of them should be considered part of the Pixel 5 family, or even the 4a famil...