The Google Pixel 6 Will Be Expensive, And That’s A Good Thing

Google announced the Google 6 and Google 6 Pro just a few short weeks ago. In a series of tweets posted to their official account, Google dropped a quick look and a few major details about the next devices in the Pixel family. We know for certain that the next Pixels will feature the Google-made Tensor chip, along with an improved design. The phone will sport some high-end hardware, and that will almost certainly make the Google Pixel 6 more expensive, but just how much more will it cost?

For years, the Pixel series has been consistently on the cusp of greatness. The phones have always been able to perfectly present the Google software experience as it was intended to be enjoyed, with no bloat, and features you can only find on a Pixel. For most fans of Android, the Pixel device has long represented the golden standard for the OS, with the only concession being the design and build quality of the phones themselves. While Pixels haven’t ever really been cheap looking or cheap feeling, they have always, for the most part, been boring. For what it’s worth, a boring design hasn’t completely hindered the phones, but it has made them feel leagues behind Samsung’s Galaxy devices and especially light-years behind the design found on the iPhone.

I’d like to think that part of the reason behind the vanilla design and uninspired build quality was simply to keep the phone affordable. When I say affordable, I mean keeping the phone from ballooning past the $1,000 mark like Samsung, Apple, and most recently OnePlus with their flagship phones. In fact, Google seemed to be content with bucking the trend and settling into the “budget-friendly” price range with the Pixel 5, which ended up being the least expensive in the line to date. While other manufacturers were doubling down with larger screens, three or more cameras, and even more high-end materials to construct their phones, Google took the “less is more” approach.

Ahead of Google’s fall event, Senior Vice President of devices and services Rick Osterloh shined a light on what to expect with this year’s Pixel phones. Speaking to German website Der Spiegel magazine, Osterloh alluded to the devices being anything but less is more, and that buyers should brace themselves for a higher price point. When asked about whether or not the new phones will try to capture market share in the premium device market, Osterloh said “The Pixel 6 Pro, which will be expensive, was designed specifically for users who want the latest technology.”

So why is all this important? Well, in short, it means that we’ll be getting a Pixel device that is being primed for the top tier of the smartphone market. With Google’s new Tensor chip, the Pixel will see immediate improvements in both the photo and video departments. The latter of which has been sharply criticized on the Pixel in the past. The device will also see a huge jump in machine learning and speech recognition which will allow the Pixel to generate English subtitles on a Japanese video WITHOUT the need for an internet connection. That’s absolutely insane. In addition to those improvements, Google will also be adding several new, larger camera sensors to the Pixel for the first time since the Pixel 2.

Pixel devices have generally been unveiled during a Google event held in late September or early October. While we still have some time to wait before we get official details on the device, the Pixel 6 is already shaping up to potentially be the most anticipated entry in the lineup perhaps ever.