The Pixel 2 Duo Will Have A Stronger Offline Presence In India : Google

Google has launched the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL. India is one of the first few countries to receive Google’s 2017 flagship smartphones, and Google has promised that the this time around, the two phones will ave a stronger presence in the Indian market. The launch of the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL was preceded with a lot of fan fare and the claims about the camera and software integration made Google during the launch has certainly hyped the phones even more.

Last year’s Pixel and Pixel XL, even though they received great reviews for their camera and software performance, didn’t perform all that well in India. At a starting price of Rs 61000, the Pixel 2 duo is already costlier than the Samsung Galaxy S8. Compared to the US$649 starting price of the Pixel 2, the price in India is inflated by almost US$300. But, the VP of Product Management at Google has said that the team has learned a lot since the 2016 Pixel phones were launched in India:

We learnt quite a bit with the first Pixel in India and one of the things we’re doing is increasing our marketing investment, really to explain the product. We’ve expanded the channel and from a go-to-market perspective, we’ll be much more present this year compared to last year.

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The company concedes that one of the main drawbacks of the Pixel  and Pixel XL of 2016 was its failure to capture the offline market. According to Google, consumers in India generally prefer to purchase premium, high-end smartphones after having experienced them in-person. The company’s investment in marketing might not necessarily persuade a majority of the Indian consumer market to splash such cash on a second-generation Android flagship. Although it will be interesting to see the strategy that Google adopts for the Indian market.

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The Pixel 2 in India starts at a price of Rs 61000 for the 64GB variant and goes up to Rs 70000 for the 128GB variant. The bigger sibling, Pixel 2 XL costs Rs 73000 for the 64GB variant and Rs 81000 for the 128GB storage variant. The iPhone X, when released in India will cost Rs 84000 for the 64GB variant while the Galaxy Note8 retails for Rs 67900 in India right now. What’s your choice of flagship for the next year or so? Let us know in the comments below!