Think of innovation, think of something different, think of superiority, think of aspiration, think of something big; only one name fills all the gaps- APPLE, the best tech company in the world. It has defeated it rivals in such ways that it is nearly impossible to imagine, is its twilight approaching? However, for the past one year the sales of its revolutionary, iPhone, has taken a backseat and the company is incurring heavy losses.
Devoid of any new striking features, Apple could sell 45.51 million iPhones in Q3 of 2016 which is 5.3 percent less than the same quarter last year. People prefer Google’s Android to Apple’s IOS nowadays. HTC and Sony are struggling to provide a better customer experience. Their phones are devoid of any unique feature. Therefore, the last few years have been of Samsung, which has risen to provide a perfect substitute to those who want brand name, sense of superiority and an all-around Android experience after Nokia disappeared amidst the competition of the powerful Android and IOS phones totally in 2014.
2016 has really been a different year, for Apple, Samsung and many other tech companies, as their supremacy is challenged by a new comer. An entrant which by its very name created a lot of havoc, curiosity, apprehension and relief to those who wanted something new and appealing, something bold and astonishing. Phone by Google promised to give us an all new smartphone experience through Google Pixel.
Figure 1 Google Pixel looks good in hands
In recent years a “pure” Android experience has evolved with The Nexus program. The Nexus brand has been taken over by Pixel leading to a totally new way forward to deal with the smartphone ecosystem. The new phones though still possess many of the same features to that made the Nexus devices. With Nexus, the company wanted to show what Android is and Pixel phones continue to do that. Pixel comes with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon chip 821, has 32GB/128GB storage, 4GB RAM, 5-inch 1920×1080 display and a 2770mAh battery. Pixel and the updated Pixel XL will be the first phones with the most up-to-date generation Snapdragon 821 chips and will be running on Android 7.1.
Firstly, the Google Assistant is mind blowing; better than Apple’s Siri. This is a value-addition for this phone. Second is the camera, Pixel and the Pixel XL has 12.3-megapixel cameras each, with large 1.55μm pixels. The Google Pixel phones will be priced at Rs.57,000 in India.
Figure 2 The all new Google Pixel
Although Pixel phones are premium phones not much is known about them. A serious amount of money is to be paid. It therefore becomes important to see whether Google has got it right or not. A lot of the core USPs in Pixel that will not be available on other Android phones: a launcher especially for pixel, Google assistant AI, unlimited storage for photos and videos, pixel camera app, phone support and screen-sharing.
The pros surely outweigh the cons. In India, cash is still the most well-liked way of settling a bill and payments through cards remain limited. Most customers have not yet signed up for digital payments. It will be a challenge to sell them. Also with cream gone i.e. demonetization, high priced phones will find difficult to find buyers. In the end, it will be a tough call of who will win India but one thing is for sure, these Titans are out there for some serious business and won’t leave until even their last soldier is standing to fight!
