I never understood googles strategy in mobile. At the beginning I assumed that they would make a reference platform showing what's possible - a high-end pixel with all of the latest hardware and software features to promote their OS and software. Driving advancement in hardware by others using android. But instead it seems like they're competing at all levels with their hardware and are trying to win at consumer-level hardware against china instead of with their software and search and now ai - areas with high margins and where they make money.

Since their hardware group is t working at promoting their software group they should probably just spin off and do their own thing.

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hocuspocus 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Google just sucks at this.

The Nexus and early Pixel eras have been a series of weirdly positioned and priced models year after year. Google didn't even bother trying to sell them in more than a handful countries.

Then Google switched to a pretty bad Exynos based SoC and consistently shipped underwhelming hardware at price points aligned with Apple... requiring absolutely insane discounts or promotion campaigns, even at launch. Can you imagine Apple giving you AirPods Pro or a Watch if you buy the next iPhone 18 on day 1?

We've seen things like the Pixel tablet that should have been sold at half its MSRP to stand even a small chance against the iPad.

And I won't even talk of the many hardware issues... my dad's Pixel 7a was fully reimbursed for 25% more money than he actually spent buying it.

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Marsymars 8 hours ago | parent [-]

> Can you imagine Apple giving you AirPods Pro or a Watch if you buy the next iPhone 18 on day 1?

Apple does exactly this, they just launder it out to their carrier partners. My wife's carrier was recently offering a free Apple Watch if you pre-ordered a new iPhone before launch.

Similarly, Apple was already selling a laptop (the M1 MacBook Air) at MacBook Neo prices, but only via Walmart (and they were continuing production of the M1 MBA specifically for this deal).

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hocuspocus 7 hours ago | parent [-]

Carrier deals aren't comparable as they're subsidized by inflated phone plans.

If you buy an iPhone on day 1 from the Apple store you're certainly not getting any gift or discount. With Google you can pre-order and get a $200-300 gift, wait for deals (Black Friday, Christmas, ...) or if you aren't in a rush, wait six months for resellers and carriers to invariably start dumping their stock at half the MSRP. Meanwhile the base iPhone price has decreased by 10-15% maybe.

And I don't see how older MacBook Airs are relevant here. Apple has always sold previous generations of their hardware for years, directly or indirectly, either by actively maintaining production or simply letting resellers deal with old stocks. Google keeping the previous year generation on their product line-up is a very recent development. Not very long ago they would abruptly stop selling the Pixel N before the N+1 were even announced.

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Marsymars 6 hours ago | parent [-]

> Carrier deals aren't comparable as they're subsidized by inflated phone plans.

I don't have any insight into what deals the carriers have on the backend, but in my region, the price delta between like-for-like BYOD plans and plans with subsidized iPhones are effectively nil.

Either the carriers are getting discounts from Apple, or everyone with BYOD plans are subsidizing phones for people who get them through carriers.

e.g. I'm currently seeing a carrier plan where the total plan + device cost over 24 months is ~$1,600 and you come out of it free and clear with a 512gb iPhone Air that's $1,749 retail. I don't see how that's possible for the carrier to offer if they're not getting discounts from Apple.

My point is that Apple doesn't want to look like they're giving discounts on their store, so they engineer any discounts to go through third parties.

	▲	hocuspocus 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I work at a carrier in Switzerland, if I take the phone we push at the top of our inventory, the iPhone 17 Pro 256 GB: Phone: 1099 (Apple's MSRP). 24-month phone plan, 50/month the first year, then 81/month: 1572. Discount: -300 Now BYOD: Phone: 1067 at the biggest and most reputable online retailer. Near identical phone plan sold through our discount/virtual brand: 30/month i.e. 720 over 24 months (but you can leave anytime). So even assuming you buy it on day 1 with zero discount from Apple's MSRP, that 300 gift costs you 852 CHF really. Now if I look at our most agressive competitor, you get the phone for free if you spend at least 1752 on a 24-month phone plan. They have a better phone plan at 15/month i.e. 360 over 2 years. BYOD is still way cheaper.

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jayd16 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

They need to be competitive to some degree for the hardware to actually work as a valid reference and explore those spaces. They also need the business to be successful enough to be a proper threat to would be rebellions from the hardware partners. In general, it is about the software.