The Importance Of Google's Pixel 10 Pro Pricing Decisions
Pixel 9 Pro XL
As Google prepares to launch the Pixel 10 and Pixel 10 Pro, it will be focusing on the story it tells to consumers. However, a deeper story is being told by the Pixel 10 family, revealing the direction Google is driving the Android ecosystem.
Unlike other Android manufacturers (perhaps excepting Samsung), Google has a totemic relationship with the consumers through the Pixel line-up. They are seen very much as "The Google Phone", and recognition from consumers is more towards the Google side of the street than the Android side.
The moves that Google makes with the Pixel devices are seen as indicative of any phones that "run Google." The moves it makes with the Pixel tell the story not just of Pixel, but of Android. What stories are Google planning to tell with the Pixel 10 family, and how will that shape the respective markets?
The Pixel 10 may be the keystone in the conversation. There is an expectation that the base model will retain the $799 price point that the Pixel 9 was on sale at. That's a price point where many of the so-called flagship killer smartphones sit; devices which promise an experience close to that of the more expensive and higher specced handsets, without the associated increase in price.
Of course, some specifications will be trimmed back, but notably, Google is expected to keep using the Tensor G5 across the Pixel 10 family. There's no undercutting the formula with a derated processor. Google will also be hoping that its offer of seven years of Android updates and security patches will be accommodated by other manufacturers. It's becoming common to see six years announced with new handsets, so the support windows are moving in the right direction.
What Google won't want to see is the loss of the flagship killer space. The Pixel 10 will balance the need for high specs to run generative AI and more complex programs, with a need to keep an affordable yet powerful phone available at the $799 price point. If the price of the Pixel 10 were to rise, that would risk the flagship killer's space.
The expected sticker price of $999 is an important one. Staying below a thousand dollars, while delivering a full-on flagship, is the role of the Pixel 10 Pro. Much as the Pixel 10 will be used to stop power creep from bleeding into price creep, Google will draw a line in the sand that no one will pass when selling premium devices.
Google is expected to push the entry-level price of the Pixel 10 Pro XL up by $100 to $1199. I'm curious to see if this is a direct price increase or if it is accomplished by dropping the 128 GB storage option and starting at 256 GB. If this approach is taken, the price for the 256 GB model remains the same as the Pixel 10 Pro XL.
We're here for the story, though, and the story is one that pushes the Pro XL higher up the pricing curve. It's giving tacit permission for manufacturers to create more separation and maximise the margins further up the portfolio.
Curiously, the Pixel 10 Pro Fold is expected to see a price cut of $200, taking it down to $1599. That's still a hefty price for a phone, and I'm curious to see the offering that Google has and what compromises it has taken.
It will be seen as an effort to bring down the expected price of a foldable, which will benefit many in the market. While the form factor has been around for some time, they still remain as smartphones for manufacturers to flex their innovation, rather than focus on mass market sales.
There's no doubt that price plays a big part in that decision. Premium smartphones are expensive; adding in a "gee-whizz" feature such as a folding screen, and many will not want to take the risk. Bringing the price down reduces that risk by a small margin. The parts are still expensive, but the direction this market wants to go in is clear.
No doubt the launch of the Pixel 10 family will touch Gogole's new hardware and lean heavily into Android 16 and the promise of the next-generation AI tools. However, the stroy underneath the story is just as interesting. Android is as much Google's as it is an Open Source project. It's the Pixel 10 that points out the direction that the Captain wants to take the ship.
Now read the latest Pixel 10 Pro, Samsung S25, and smartphone headlines in Forbes' weekly Android Circuit news digest...
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