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Industry partners not as optimistic as Google about its ambitious Pixel 6 sales target

By Anam Hamid

Published: Oct 19, 2021, 11:13 AM

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Industry partners not as optimistic as Google about its ambitious Pixel 6 sales target

It's a matter of hours until Google fully unveils the Pixel 6 and 6 Pro - it's next premium smartphones that will be powered by the custom-built Tensor chip and offer an improved camera system. The phones will be competitively, or if a new report is to be believed, aggressively priced, and this will likely further help increase their appeal. Google appears quite confident that its new phones will do well and has asked suppliers to make double the number of phones it sold in all of 2020.

Per analytics firm IDC, Google only managed to sell 3.7 smartphones last year. The company reportedly didn't have high ambitions for the lineup, to begin with. This year, it has all bases covered.

The Tensor chip has been built specifically for Pixel phones and will supposedly allow for better hardware and software integration, an advantage that Apple currently has because it's in charge of iOS.

Google plans to churn out 7 million Pixel 6 units in 2021

Google, as you probably already know, is the company behind Android, and the latest version - Android 12 - is perhaps the biggest design overhaul ever seen. Nikkei Asia reports that Google aims to manufacture 7 million units of the Pixel 6 this year, on top of 5 million units of the mid-tier Pixel 5a that was released in August.

For comparison, Samsung sold 253 million smartphones worldwide in 2020 and Apple shipped around 200 million units.

Google apparently wants to take advantage of the fact that it is the only American smartphone manufacturer that makes Android phones. The company is particularly eyeing the American, European, and Japanese markets.

It's likely Google has good market opportunities in Western markets like Europe and the U.S. that are more sensitive to data privacy and care a lot about national security implications associated with electronic devices. Google wants to bet big on its hardware because it wants to lock in more users and have direct interaction with them as that could give it better data analytics for its future services". - Joey Yen, IDC.

It aims to snatch market share from Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi, all of whom have greatly benefitted from Huawei's subdued presence. Huawei once used to be one of the biggest smartphone makers, but it has been reduced to a shadow of its former self. That has happened because of the restrictions imposed on it by the US which have severely inhibited the Chinese company's ability to source the key technologies needed to make phones.

For now, Google is safe from the global component shortage but some technical issues have affected the efficiency of the manufacturing process. The report also implies that suppliers are not as optimistic as Google and are wondering if the company will actually be able to reach its sales target.

Looking at the hype surrounding the Pixel 6 duo, it looks like suppliers don't need to be cautious. Still, it's hard to say with certainty that these will be amongst the top phones of 2021 before trying them out.

The company is allegedly also working on a new Pixelbook laptop that runs Chrome OS and is also making chips for Chromebooks.

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Anam Hamid is a computer scientist turned tech journalist who has a keen interest in the tech world, with a particular focus on smartphones and tablets. She has previously written for Android Headlines and has also been a ghostwriter for several tech and car publications. Anam is not a tech hoarder and believes in using her gadgets for as long as possible. She is concerned about smartphone addiction and its impact on future generations, but she also appreciates the convenience that phones have brought into our lives. Anam is excited about technological advancements like folding screens and under-display sensors, and she often wonders about the future of technology. She values the overall experience of a device more than its individual specs and admires companies that deliver durable, high-quality products. In her free time, Anam enjoys reading, scrolling through Reddit and Instagram, and occasionally refreshing her programming skills through tutorials.