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I think there are several reasons: - The pricing for their flagship models made absolutely no sense given the specs, poor battery life and questionable QA. -

I think there are several reasons: - The pricing for their flagship models made absolutely no sense given the specs, poor battery life and questionable QA. - Samsung and the big Chinese manufacturers advertise everywhere, you can get their phones at the shop around the corner. At least now in Germany you can find the Pixels at Saturn and Mediamarkt (and often at a discount). - Most people don't care about software updates. They might notice the custom Samsung UI and be annoyed by pre-installed bloatware, but they won't know which version of Android the phone is running, let alone its latest security patch. Even a 200€ phone will get Google Play services updates and be able to install almost anything for 5+ years. So in the end, you see Pixels in the US where Google does advertise them a bit, and also because there are still a lot of people who get subsidized phones from their carriers (or Google Fi for that matter). But yeah in Europe... I do remember people getting the Nexus 4, 5, the 5X once it got cheaper. But the Pixel 1/2/3/4, not so much. The 3a has probably done better lately as resellers tried to get rid of their stock, I think I've seen it sold as low as 239€. I think it's good if Google goes back to mid-range models. I don't think they'll ever be able to make a good flagship. But I really wonder why they aren't trying harder (or at all, in most countries). For now Android One phones are lagging behind in the camera department, but I cannot believe it'll be the case forever. Once Nokia has caught up, what's going to be left to overpriced Pixels?

detaro 6y ago
Always seemed weird that they didn't continue a Nexus series below the Pixel. Those had a good reputation as solid phones, whereas the Pixels didn't seem worth the money - and probably got anchored as that in peoples mind, even when their prices fall.
- hocuspocus 6y ago
  I've had many Nexus models and honestly they weren't any better. But I saw it as a trade-off. I agreed to do the beta testing in exchange of good specs for the price. Hardware QA was also shit but the customer service would send you a new device before you'd return yours, almost no questions asked. I've heard it's gotten worse with the Pixels even though they're much more expensive. And some models have shown insane bugs/defects, for instance calling issues (!) with the Pixel 3.
- thaumasiotes 6y ago
  > Always seemed weird that they didn't continue a Nexus series below the Pixel. That was weird, but the criticism obviously stuck -- the #a series is a continuation of the Nexus series.
  - detaro 6y ago
    I mean, I haven't been in the market for a new phone recently, but I didn't even know those existed, while still remembering lots of people said good things about their Nexus'. Branding failure IMHO
- AdrianB1 6y ago
  Except for Nexus 5X that was a great, but defective phone. I had 3, the first died of the famous 5x death a month after the warranty expired, the second died in warranty and it was replaced with a third that is in use even these days. Not too solid in 2 cases of of 3.
- symlinkk 6y ago
  The average person doesn’t even know what a Pixel is.
ksec 6y ago
But none of this has anything to do with poor distribution. They could have partnered with logistics and sold it themselves via Online. But even that is not done. They didn't bother partnering with Telecoms or Retail. Basically, judging purely from current evidence and outside perspective, Google is a company that 1. Doesn't know how to make partnership 2. Doesn't know anything other than selling ads. 3. Doesn't know how to do support. The whole company is not structure for this. And very likely their Phone department is so small within the giant Google circle there are absolutely zero synergy within it.
- hocuspocus 6y ago
  Right, but I'm replying to the fact that even in countries where it's reasonably well distributed like Germany, sales seem pretty low.
- pjmlp 6y ago
  They don't even know how to develop an SDK properly, the overall experience feels like no one on the Android team ever used iOS or UWP SDKs or their out of the box frameworks. Even just watching WWDC sessions would do wonders to compare what they offer and what the competition provides, specially in what concerns native languages support, project templates, graphics, audio and SIMD frameworks.
vinay427 6y ago
> They might notice the custom Samsung UI and be annoyed by pre-installed bloatware, but they won't know which version of Android the phone is running, let alone its latest security patch. Honestly, on newer devices within the last few years, I've found the Samsung modifications to be more helpful than not. I have way more options for random settings that I regularly find useful, as well as customization of how aspects of the UI look, than are provided by either stock Android or Google's Android modifications. There are also some random "bloatware" features that are actually useful and unobtrusive, such as the pen features that come with Galaxy Note devices. What does annoy me with my device model in particular is the locked bootloader, but this doesn't apply to all modern Samsung devices.
- hocuspocus 6y ago
  I'm not saying the Samsung UI is better or worse, just that people notice. Google is indeed also guilty of pre-installing apps that people do not want. But things like Samsung Pay or Bixby are a bit more annoying in my experience.

detaro 6y ago

Always seemed weird that they didn't continue a Nexus series below the Pixel. Those had a good reputation as solid phones, whereas the Pixels didn't seem worth the money - and probably got anchored as that in peoples mind, even when their prices fall.

hocuspocus 6y ago
I've had many Nexus models and honestly they weren't any better. But I saw it as a trade-off. I agreed to do the beta testing in exchange of good specs for the price. Hardware QA was also shit but the customer service would send you a new device before you'd return yours, almost no questions asked. I've heard it's gotten worse with the Pixels even though they're much more expensive. And some models have shown insane bugs/defects, for instance calling issues (!) with the Pixel 3.
thaumasiotes 6y ago
> Always seemed weird that they didn't continue a Nexus series below the Pixel. That was weird, but the criticism obviously stuck -- the #a series is a continuation of the Nexus series.
- detaro 6y ago
  I mean, I haven't been in the market for a new phone recently, but I didn't even know those existed, while still remembering lots of people said good things about their Nexus'. Branding failure IMHO
AdrianB1 6y ago
Except for Nexus 5X that was a great, but defective phone. I had 3, the first died of the famous 5x death a month after the warranty expired, the second died in warranty and it was replaced with a third that is in use even these days. Not too solid in 2 cases of of 3.
symlinkk 6y ago
The average person doesn’t even know what a Pixel is.

ksec 6y ago

But none of this has anything to do with poor distribution. They could have partnered with logistics and sold it themselves via Online. But even that is not done. They didn't bother partnering with Telecoms or Retail. Basically, judging purely from current evidence and outside perspective, Google is a company that 1. Doesn't know how to make partnership 2. Doesn't know anything other than selling ads. 3. Doesn't know how to do support. The whole company is not structure for this. And very likely their Phone department is so small within the giant Google circle there are absolutely zero synergy within it.

hocuspocus 6y ago
Right, but I'm replying to the fact that even in countries where it's reasonably well distributed like Germany, sales seem pretty low.
pjmlp 6y ago
They don't even know how to develop an SDK properly, the overall experience feels like no one on the Android team ever used iOS or UWP SDKs or their out of the box frameworks. Even just watching WWDC sessions would do wonders to compare what they offer and what the competition provides, specially in what concerns native languages support, project templates, graphics, audio and SIMD frameworks.

vinay427 6y ago

> They might notice the custom Samsung UI and be annoyed by pre-installed bloatware, but they won't know which version of Android the phone is running, let alone its latest security patch. Honestly, on newer devices within the last few years, I've found the Samsung modifications to be more helpful than not. I have way more options for random settings that I regularly find useful, as well as customization of how aspects of the UI look, than are provided by either stock Android or Google's Android modifications. There are also some random "bloatware" features that are actually useful and unobtrusive, such as the pen features that come with Galaxy Note devices. What does annoy me with my device model in particular is the locked bootloader, but this doesn't apply to all modern Samsung devices.

hocuspocus 6y ago
I'm not saying the Samsung UI is better or worse, just that people notice. Google is indeed also guilty of pre-installing apps that people do not want. But things like Samsung Pay or Bixby are a bit more annoying in my experience.