Google Pixel already has 10pc premium smartphone market share in India

NEW DELHI: Somebody’s loss is always someone else’s gain. Samsung Galaxy Note 7 debacle was expected to be Apple’s biggest USP when it launched iPhone 7 this year but looks like Google too got its hands full along the way.

According to an Economic Times report, Google has managed to capture 10 percent of the premium smartphone segment in India with the launch of its Pixel range.

Apparently, Google shipped 33,000 units of Pixel to India as of October-end, becoming the No 3 player for the month in the segment where the smartphone costs Rs 30,000 or more. Also, Apple usurped Samsung to capture the top position in this segment with 66 percent market share against Samsung’s 23 percent.

After a timely launch in India, Google has been going high with marketing and discounted offers. The device was available for pre-order in early October with exchange offers and no-cost EMIs, and by 25 October it went on sale.

“We are very enthused by the feedback from Indian customers and the initial response for Pixel has been extremely positive and in line with our expectations. Pixel is Google’s take on the total user experience as we envision it — bringing the best of Google’s software, such as the Google Assistant, with hardware that really brings the experience to life,” a Google India spokesperson told the publication.

Made by Google, Pixel brings a 5-inch Full HD AMOLED display and the larger Pixel XL comes with a 5.5-inch QHD AMOLED display. The Pixel gets a smaller 2,770mAH battery while the XL gets a 3,450mAH battery. The devices sport an aluminum and glass build and the 12.3MP camera has been given a rating of 89 on DXoMark which is the highest on any smartphone camera. The camera features a f/2.0 aperture with the sensor producing large 1.55μm pixels.

A Snapdragon 821 quad-core processor with 2.15GHz clock speed, 4GB of RAM and 32GB and 128GB fixed storage options surely take the phone high up on any user’s wish list.