As Google launches the Pixel 9 series, India becomes a golden opportunity ready to be tapped

The Pixel 9 family of devices has flatter edges and a rounded camera module that protrudes from the back of the device. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

However, the situation was different a few years ago. Google struggled to sell Pixel smartphones and other products in India, despite having a sizable presence through Android, with nearly all smartphones powered by the mobile operating system sold by its OEM partners, such as South Korea’s Samsung and China’s Xiaomi. The best-sellers, however, have always been in the mid-range segment.

The vibrant pink-coloured Pixel 9 Pro. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

Today, the story is different. Premium smartphones priced above Rs 30,000 (375 USD) now have a 20 per cent volume share and a 51 per cent value share of the overall Indian smartphone market, according to market research firm Counterpoint. A boost in online sales, attractive offers and cashback, strong demand in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, and consumers’ willingness to choose premium smartphones and pay through affordable EMI options have largely contributed to the growth in high-end smartphone sales. This changing consumer appetite to splurge more extravagantly on products and services explains why Google is focusing on India.

Google is marketing its Pixel 9 series as its most ambitious smartphone lineup yet, with each model varying by screen size and features: the 6.3-inch Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro, and the 6.8-inch Pixel 9 Pro XL. The Pixel 9 starts at Rs 79,999, the Pixel 9 Pro at Rs 1,09,999, and the Pixel 9 Pro XL at Rs 1,24,999, with the smartphones available for pre-order starting Wednesday in India and shipping on August 21. The new lineup features larger screens, improved cameras, sleeker designs, long battery life, and more memory, making them future-proof for running AI models, as well as a faster custom Tensor G4 processor—the first to run Gemini Nano with multimodality, the company’s fastest on-device AI model that helps the phone understand not only text inputs but also images, audio, and speech.

Arguably the most noticeable highlight of the Pixel 9 series is the spate of new AI features, with some being Pixel first and others remaining exclusive to the Pixel 9 series. For example, Pixel Screenshots is a brand-new AI feature that could make screenshots taken on your Pixel easier to search, while Add Me is a new feature that will guide users to take the first photo and then allow them to trade places with someone in the photo using augmented reality.

The device that stole the Google event, however, was the Pixel 9 Pro Fold, a foldable smartphone that can expand into an eight-inch tablet when fully unfolded. While the Pixel 9 Pro Fold isn’t expected to have mass-market appeal due to its price tag of Rs 1,72,999, the device could still help Google gain more ground in the marketplace at the expense of Apple, which doesn’t offer a foldable smartphone yet.

“The Pixel 9 series’ biggest strength is that Pixel has been implementing AI on its phones before anyone else, and that aggressive approach has paid dividends in the user experience. I believe that Pixel will continue to lead the rest of the Android ecosystem into on-device AI experiences,” Anshel Sag, a Principal Analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, told indianexpress.com.

Google’s Pixel brand had a relatively small market share in India’s booming smartphone market, with just 0.4 per cent in H1 2024, according to Canalys’ estimates. However, India remains among the top five markets for Pixel smartphones, joining the US, Germany, the UK, and Japan, where Google was the largest vendor in H1 2024 with a 12 per cent market share. Google shipped 11 million Pixel smartphones in 2023, an increase of 44 per cent year-over-year, with numbers surging since 2021.

With the Pixel 9 series (including the Pixel Watch 3 series starting at Rs 39,990 and Pixel Buds Pro 2 at Rs 22,900), Google looks to make an aggressive play to expand its operations not only in sales but also in manufacturing. On the sales front, it is expanding its footprint beyond its online partner, Flipkart, and venturing into offline retail expansion with Reliance Digital and Croma. The company is also adding Google-owned Walk-Centers in Delhi, Bangalore, and Mumbai, and strengthening its after-sales service support. Meanwhile, Google now manufactures the Pixel 8 smartphones locally in India, highlighting its commitment to boosting manufacturing in the country.

Experts say Google is adopting Apple’s model by locally producing high-end smartphones and improving sales channels to create demand for expensive phones in a market like India. Google, like Apple, doesn’t want to miss the opportunity and aims to reap the benefits of this renewed consumer mindset. Apple’s annual sales in India reportedly hit a record of almost $8 billion last year, buoyed by increased interest in premium iPhones in the world’s second-largest smartphone market.

However, unlike Apple, which has full control over the supply chain and ecosystem, Google relies heavily on its OEM partners to sell more smartphones. In India, Samsung is seen as Apple’s biggest competitor in the high-end segment, not Google, which also offers premium smartphones. “I believe that Google knows Samsung is Apple’s strongest competition in the Android space and needs to support them to maintain the success of Android. That said, Samsung and Google still very much have different aspirations when it comes to hardware and software, and I believe there is more than enough room in the Android ecosystem to accommodate them both along with the plethora of other Android OEMs,” said Sag.

The Pixel Watch 3 comes in two different sizes. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

Google has aspirations to market Pixel smartphones and accessories like the Pixel Watch 3 as competitors to Apple products. A cash-rich Google has already made it clear that it is playing a long-term game in India, as consumers are gaining more purchasing power as the economy expands. Analysts say that India’s large population and maturing economy are ideal for Google to expand the Pixel brand in the country by increasing marketing efforts and offering first-party retail stores, similar to Apple’s approach. But Google’s efforts may not bring immediate results in the near term, given the stronghold of its OEM partners, who are also moving into the premium segment.

“While India could be an interesting market, I’m not sure that the market necessarily values Pixel’s approach as it might that of Chinese OEMs. India is a maturing market, and I do think there will be a time and place for Pixel devices, but it might just be in a few years,” Sag responded when asked if Google can make a dent in the market in the same way as Apple.