Analysts have suggested that Google's latest pair of flagship smartphones, Pixel and Pixel XL, will generate about $3.8 million in terms of revenue for the company in 2017. Research notes released by Morgan Stanley have predicted that the tech giant will sell roughly 3 million Pixel handsets between October and December this year taking the tally to $2 million.
"[W]e believe the Pixel is important as [Alphabet] works to provide users a more integrated and consistent Android experience aimed to improve Android user mobile search monetization," Business Insider cited Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak writing in his research note. The research note also predicts the Pixel will be half as lucrative for Google as the iPhone is to Apple, on account of the more expensive materials used by the former company in its device.
According to the bank, the Pixel phone is likely to generate 22 percent to 25 percent gross profit margin, depending on the model. In comparison, the gross margin for the iPhone 7 is about 41 percent. However, Apple's margin of profit from the sale of its flagship smartphone has declined notably from 57.7 percent in 2009.
Apparently the Pixel phone is likely to be a strong contestant in the extremely competitive smartphone market, despite lacking some of the features other handsets either in the same or lower-tier price range. Some of the smartphones manufactured by Google's rivals boast of being water resistance and even come with wireless charging.
Incidentally, the Pixel phone is the first handset from Google that does not carry the Nexus branding. The company has decided to only use its own name on the device after its collaboration with Huawei, which was believed to manufacture Pixel and Pixel XL, fell apart since the Mountain View tech titan did not want the Huawei logo embedded on its latest devices.
Meanwhile, it seems that Verizon is selling Pixel phones more rapidly than Google can deliver them the handsets to the carrier. In fact, a customer ordering the 32GB model of Pixel handset now will probably receive it sometime by Jan. 1, 2017. The wait can be even longer if the device is a 128GB model, GSM Arena reported.
A delay of about a month is certainly not an ideal situation for a product that has been released officially and is not on pre-order, shipping of some orders placed earlier have also been delayed. The site reported that Verizon has already sent text messages to such customers that their handsets will be shipped on Dec. 26. What is worse is that most online stores seem to be out of stock at the moment.
Watch the Google Pixel and Pixel XL review below: