Google introduces new budget Pixel phone

The Pixel 5a costs $449 and will be launched on Aug. 26.

Google is slowly ramping up its hardware business, which doesn’t generate meaningful revenue for the company compared with its services such as Search, YouTube and Google Cloud.

It finished its Fitbit acquisition in January, giving it a foundation in the fitness wearable market, and opened its first retail store, where people can play with and buy its products, in May. It’s also building a dedicated hardware campus in the Silicon Valley dubbed “Midpoint.” And earlier this month it announced the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, two new high-end phones that will launch in the fall and will use a new Google Tensor chip instead of one made by Qualcomm.

Google also continues to release new versions of its Nest products, which include gadgets such as smart home displays, speakers, thermostats, security cameras and a doorbell.

The Pixel 5a is a moderate improvement over last year’s Pixel 4a 5G, offering a larger battery, a slightly bigger screen and water resistance. It supports 5G but not the fastest mmWave 5G networks and has the same midrange Qualcomm processor as last year. Google excels at creating a smooth and fast software experience even on lower-powered processors.

The company also offers features on Pixels you don’t get from other Android phones, such as a voice recorder app that converts speech to text, car crash detection and smart filtering of spam calls and text messages. New versions of Android come to Pixel phones right away and updates are guaranteed for three years.

It might seem like a strange time to launch the Pixel 5a, given that the company’s more ambitious Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro phones are coming soon. But Google plans to invest heavily in marketing its new flagship phones, and consumers who don’t want to spend more for them may find the Pixel 5a a good compromise.

It competes most directly with Apple’s iPhone SE, which also costs $449 with the same amount of storage, 128GB. It also competes with other low-cost Android phones such as the Samsung Galaxy A42 5G. But Android fans should pick the Pixel since it includes faster software updates.

SOURCE: CNBC