Were you surprised reading the title? Yeah, friend you are not alone. We were surprised too. According to a IDC report, Google shipped 7.2 million Pixel phones last year. Shipments of Pixel phones grew about 52% last year. So it seems like Google is on the right track with their smartphone business.
A tweet from Francisco Jeronimo, Associate VP, Devices – EMEA, IDC, stated that Pixel phones did very well in three markets – USA, Western Europe, and Japan.
. @Google continues to expand the #Pixel portfolio and sales are growing. In 2019 shipments grew 52% YoY to reach the highest volume ever, with strong performances in the USA, Western Europe and Japan. It now ships more units than @oneplus but it is still far from reaching Top10 pic.twitter.com/qY66isF9vN— Francisco Jeronimo (@fjeronimo) June 9, 2020
It was recently reported that, Pixel 4 and Pixel 3a didn't ship much in the first quarter of their sale compared to Pixel 3. But the second quarter of Pixel 3 sales were in 2019(January to March). Pixel 3a contributed 2 whole quarter of shipment last year and the first quarter of Pixel 4 was included in the report. So Google had 3 phones in different price points being sold in the same year. Though Pixel 3a didn't make a dent in the hot mid-tier smartphone markets in the entire world, it sold well in the US. Moreover Pixel 3 was discontinued every now and then throughout the year making it a compelling buy for the customers.
That's correct. Pixel 3a & Pixel4 sold fewer units in the 1st two-quarters of sales than Pixel3. However:— Francisco Jeronimo (@fjeronimo) June 9, 2020
- the 2nd Q of sales for Px3 was 1Q2019
- Google launched Px3a & 4 in 2019. Weaker launches but the full impact was in 2019
- Google expanded Pixel portfolio to 3 new markets
Jeronimo also points out that Google expanded to three new markets in 2019, thus, drumming up interest for its ‘what an Android phone should be like’ strategy. It will be interesting to see how their phones sale in 2020. Google is set to launch Pixel 4a and Pixel 5 before the end of the year. But as the pandemic is still on everyone's mind and the economy of the world is falling, it is looking quite difficult for Google to hold the trajectory this year.
