Well, gang, it appears like the colorful cat has gone out of the metaphorical bag.

Guess what happens I’m talkin’ about, right? The feline involved is the one and only Google’s Pixel 6 phone – two of ’em, actually. Google pulled off its new favorite trick and allow air from the rapidly leaking balloon by announcing its Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro months prior to the devices’ actual debuts. Take that, interweb rumor-mongers!

And these new Pixels will vary from Pixels past pretty, too. As have been expected widely, they’re the initial Google-made phones to include a Google-made processor – a distinction we have been discussing ’round these parts for a long time now and something that could go quite a distance in separating the phones from all of those other Android pack. Google’s got a carefully orchestrated campaign spread across several websites showing off a number of the practical advantages that new setup allows, therefore i won’t waste your time and effort rehashing what you’ve already read.

Here, I wish to concentrate on four underemphasized ramifications of the Pixel 6 preview – a variety of between-the-lines suggestions and offhand remarks which are getting much less attention compared to the Pixels’ shiny outer shells and homemade innards.

Join me on an instant journey in to the heart of the Pixel 6 and what these latest revelations reveal about Google’s broader plans, won’t ya?

Pixel takeaway No. 1: The program support shakeup

This first Pixel takeaway is one I haven’t seen appear at all, directly, within the current Pixel 6 blitz – but it’s arguably the main aftereffect of Google’s shift to a self-made processor.

If you have followed along here for some time, you almost certainly know where I am going (and you may go ahead and get hold of a well-earned crumpet as an incentive): Insurance firms its custom chip in the Pixel, Google can support these to with software updates for far longer than what’s currently possible on Android.

This was among the first potential perks of a Google-made processor we discussed once the possibility first reared its head, even though Google hasn’t announced anything official about any of it yet, signs suggest the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro could feature a full five years of Android operating-system updates. That is clearly a huge intensify from the platform’s current three-year max, to state the least – also it may have some pretty significant implications, as we’ll explore further in an instant.

Pixel takeaway No. 2: The ‘Android Pixel’ factor

A hefty chunk of Google’s Pixel 6 marketing materials concentrate on what sort of phones showcase the brand new Material You theming system at the biggest market of Android 12. It’s a lot more when compared to a fresh coat of paint: Material You is really a complete reimagining of the Android experience – “similar to Android on some super-mellow mood enhancers,” as some astute man-animal&nbsp incredibly; put it before . Also it revolves around an ambitious new feature that taps into your own private wallpaper to make a custom system-wide palette that then stretches over the entire Android experience – from your Quick Settings panel and settings screens to icons on your own home screen and also the interfaces within apps.

Eventually, the implications will stretch beyond just your phone even, too: Google says your custom design choices on Android will sooner or later travel together with your account across every app and kind of device you utilize – deciding on Google apps on the net in addition to to Chromebooks, Smart Displays, and Wear-based wearables. This can be a Google ecosystem move, quite simply. And the Pixel, it appears, may be the sole smartphone product to tie into that new cross-platform thread in its unadulterated and full form.

Google

That, suffice it to state, is really a monumental shift both for what the Pixel represents within Android and what Android itself represents being an operating system.

Pixel takeaway No. 3: The pivot back from the prior pivot

Have a sec and go grab yourself a Dramamine or two, ’cause this next takeaway is gonna cause you to dizzy.

Year last, y’see, Google threw us a genuine curveball with its Pixel product plan . After four years of establishing the Pixel as reduced, flagship-caliber phone, Google arrived with the Pixel 5 – which completely redefined what the Pixel brand stood for and what it had been all about.

The Pixel 5 wasn’t a top-of-the-line, top-dollar phone, nor was it designed to be . It had been positioned as a far more affordable phone that centered on the qualities that mattered probably the most but cut out lots of the fancier niceties to be able to hit a lesser price. It had been a move back toward the old Nexus model from Google’s past, in a way – enabling you to get yourself a good, solid Android phone with exceptional software and without a number of the higher-end great features for a surprisingly decent price.

Within that, the Pixel 5 lacked the more premium glass or metal constructions its predecessors possessed, also it eliminated the just -launched (and heavily promoted) face unlocking technology the Pixel 4 had introduced only year earlier. It appeared to make sense from the sales perspective, when i pointed out at that time , since Google hadn’t were able to make its high-end Pixels remove but had seen plenty of success with its less expensive Pixel “a”-line phones.

WHEN I mused last fall:

In the grand scheme of things, maybe losing these luxury-level elements to be able to create a less expensive Pixel phone is really a price Google must pay if it really wants to turn its homemade phone program right into a sustainable business. It seems sensible on one level, if it’s a little disappointing on another even. The real test, though, would be to see if this latest strategy is one Google actually sticks with – or if we find ourselves considering just one more “Google phone” pivot by this time around next year.

Mmhmm. And do you know what we’re considering now?

Oh, yes: Google has pivoted back from its previous pivot and returned to the high-end, premium flagship approach for the Pixel, year after ever-so-briefly redefining the brand just one single. It’s one hell of a dizzying spin , even by Google’s vertigo-inducing standards .

To be fair, we have no idea how much the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro will definitely cost at this point. However in an interview with The Verge , Google hardware head honcho Rick Osterloh said they’d maintain a “different” tier from the business’s recent offerings and that the Pixel 6 would “be described as a premium-priced product.” Because the writer of that article notes, it’s tough to take that as meaning anything significantly less than a thousand smackeroos.

The one savior, if Google effectively manages to emphasize it, could possibly be that support life we discussed another ago longer. Consider it: If we arbitrarily say that certain of the Pixel 6 models costs $1,200 but additionally assume that it’ll get that full five years of software support we’re expecting, that effectively means it’d cost $240 each year during the period of its advisable life. The priced Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra similarly, compared, gets just three years of operating-system updates – rendering it $400 each year of advisable ownership.

Only time will tell, needless to say, if Google finds a genuine solution to convey that advantage. Speaking of which…

Pixel takeaway No. 4: The marketing machine

We’re six years in now to Google’s Pixel phone plan, so when of yet, the Pixel continues to be mostly a niche-level product for Android enthusiasts along with other folks “in the know.” It’s not a mainstream phone, and far every group of market share stats reflects that pretty.

Despite every one of the Pixel’s practical advantages over other Android phone options, its not-so-prominent positioning within the smartphone ecosystem isn’t entirely surprising. Simple and plain, six years in, Google still appears to be doing anything – or barely anything effective barely, at least – to advertise the Pixel and make average phone-buyin’ organisms alert to its most exceptional elements . Heck, most non-tech-obsessed people don’t typically even understand that the Pixel exists , if you ask me.

Year and every new Pixel-exclusive element that gets added in to the picture sufficient reason for every passing, that disconnect gets increasingly more discouraging. To once more quote the best tech philosopher and probably the most handsome and humble Homo sapien I understand:

Imagine if another iPhone was included with [features like] the A.I.-enabled call hold-for-you and screener technology. Imagine how Apple would market those possibilities. They’d be innovative, groundbreaking, magical and revolutionary , damn it! They’d be life-transforming systems available “only on iPhone” (since when someone pretentiously avoids the usage of articles while discussing their products, you understand they have to make a difference).

Simple and plain, we’d never hear the finish of it. Sufficient reason for Google? Google’s got the products this very minute. And we hear an individual peep about any of it never.

Well, with the Pixel 6, Google says it’s prepared to start selling. “The merchandise is actually, now, The Google Phone,” Osterloh told The Verge – “so we have been ready to invest a whole lot in marketing and you want to grow.”

Funny, ’cause Google’s been discussing the Pixel being “The Google Phone” since virtually the first model. And it’s really been discussing moving the Pixel line beyond niche status and into mainstream position as a “next couple of years”-style goal for quite some years now.

But this time maybe, it’s serious. This time maybe, it’s prepared to start pushing the Pixel properly and making regular ol’ people – not only us exceptional nerds – alert to what it’s about. Maybe . We’ve certainly heard that story before, though, greater than a couple of times.

To be fair, the last time Osterloh gave a particular timeframe was in 2017 – five years back. Back then, within an interview with (who else?) The Verge , he said: “We don’t want to buy to be always a niche thing. … Hopefully to be selling products in high volumes in five years.”

And we are here, five years later. The Pixel 6 is upon us almost. Now let’s see if this is actually the round where Google actually delivers – and when, in true Google style, the sixth time eventually ends up being the charm.

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