Google Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro: What’s in store for Indian buyers

Google has confirmed that Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro aren’t coming to India anytime soon. Launched on October 19, the new Pixel smartphones are only available in nine countries and sadly India is not one of them.

The Google-backed smartphone, Pixel, comes with its own SoC, Tenor. The Google Pixel 6 features 6.4-inch AMOLED display with HDR10+ support and 90Hz refresh rate. The smartphone works on Android 12 out of the box. It features dual lenses at the back having 50MP+12MP resolution. The selfie camera is of 8MP.

Whereas the Pixel 6 Pro features 6.71-inch display with 120Hz refresh rate, 12GB RAM and 5003mAh battery. The differentiating factor comes in optical department. The Pixel 6 Pro comes with triple camera at the back (50MP+48MP+12MP) and a 11.1MP front lens.

Traditionally, the Pixel smartphones are known to have better photographic capabilities than the competition and especially its Portrait mode is worth exploring.

Google started this trend of not launching its flagship smartphones in India with Pixel 4 and continued it. On the contrary, the tech giant launched the lite version for the Indian buyers in the form of Google Pixel 4a. Going by the pattern, Google may launch 6a in India later.

“The Indian premium smartphone segment is very hyper-competitive with established as well as new market entrants in the fray. For Google, bringing the Pixel 6 to India would not make commercial sense. While the brand enjoys great mindshare amongst tech enthusiasts, it is tough to get market acceptance owing to its Uber premium pricing. Until Google is able to embrace Make in India, ramp-up its channel strengths, it will be tough for it to grow in India,” said Prabhu Ram, Head- Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CyberMedia Research (CMR).

It could be blamed on the chipset shortage, but the bitter truth is that Google Pixel phones are finding it hard to compete with Chinese smartphone makers which are dominant in the Indian smartphone market. Plus, Apple and Samsung are adding additional debt to Pixel in India.

Google Pixel 6 and 6 Pro are available in US, UK, Canada, Ireland, Australia, Germany, France, Japan and Taiwan.

The Pixel 6 price starts at $599 (app. Rs. 45,000), while the Pixel 6 Pro is tagged at a starting price of $899 (app. Rs. 68,000).