Google has introduced its flagship duo – Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro in Singapore yesterday. The Pixel 6 has been priced at SGD 999 and is available in Stormy Black or Sorta Seafoam colour options while the Pixel 6 Pro will retail for SGD 1,299. It will be available in Cloudy White or Stormy Black colour options.
At the launch, the phones were available only in 9 markets- including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The company has gradually expanded the availability to twelve countries in all – including the latest addition Singapore. Prior to this, the phones were launched in the European countries of Italy and Spain.
These are the first set of devices to have landed in the country after the introduction of the affordable Pixel 4a. The Stratistimes reports that subsequent devices - Pixel 5 and Pixel 5a never made it to Singapore. This is exactly the same treatment that Google has meted out with India which is one of the biggest smartphone markets as of now.
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Interestingly, Google has only introduced a single variant with 128GB storage in Singapore and has also launched one colour option less in Singapore. Similarly in Italy and Spain, the company introduced both the devices with 128GB storage and Sorta Black colour option only. These phones were introduced in a limited quantity and the company expects the phones to sell out quickly.
Supply chain issues didn’t spare Google as well
The Pixel 6 lineup was introduced in October last year and comes with Google’s in house Tensor chipsets. According to Alphabet, Google’s parent company, the company has experienced an all-time high quarterly sale in the fourth quarter of 2021.
While the lineup has been marred with software issues, however, the record sales should give Google confidence to introduce the phones to a larger audience. To Google’s credit, the company has indeed added 3 more markets in less than 6 months of the introduction, however, the search engine giant is said to be feeling the pinch of a supply crunch.
In a quarterly earnings call, its CEO Sundar Pichai recently said that “The response to Pixel 6 from our customers and carrier partners was incredibly positive. This came in spite of an extremely challenging supply chain environment.”
The custom Tensor chipset at the core of the phones could also be a reason why Google is finding it more challenging compared to the Chinese smartphone makers.
That said, while we are still trying to figure out what Google has in store for India, with its slow progress it is pretty clear that the company wants to expand the availability of its phones. As of now, we can only hope that if not the Pixel 6 phones, the affordable Pixel 6a, expected to launch in May, comes to India.
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