Google has always given the impression that it was let down with the Pixel. At least in sales: its marketing and distribution have never been as overwhelming as those of its competitors; Perhaps this was precisely because their competitors (except Apple) were strategic partners. So market share and sales on these smartphones have never been outstanding, but be careful because these data change.

In the land of the rising sun, iPhone is king. Japan has traditionally been the guardian of the iPhone. There, Apple mobile phones were extremely successful, despite the fact that the prices of these terminals were often higher than those of other competitors. For example, in May 2018, one in four mobile phones in Japan was an iPhone 7 (and the top five in sales share were other Apple models).

Image: Bloomberg.

Google is making a surprise. However, Counterpoint Research data published on Bloomberg shows that there has been a change in the trend recently. Google Pixels achieved a record market share in the quarter ending June: 12%, more than six times the 2% it had in the same period the previous year.

Meanwhile, iPhone is falling. The success of Pixel sales in Japan coincides with Apple’s market share falling from 58% in the second quarter of 2022 to 46% a year later. For the first time in the last two years, the iPhone’s market share fell below 50 percent in Japan.

Yen doesn’t help. This may be partly due to the weak yen, which has lost value and forced Apple to raise prices in Japan. According to analysts, the price increase was not offset by the significant improvement in performance. Counterpoint’s Tom Kang noted that “Japanese users are becoming more pragmatic.”

Or yes, it depends. But while the iPhone has become expensive for Japanese people, the Pixel has become particularly cheap for those traveling there. According to Kang himself, “Japan is becoming the distribution center for Google Pixel devices, so iPhone suffers from weak yen and Google takes advantage of it.”

Pixel 6a and 7a win and convince. Anshel Sag, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, added: “It looks like most of these devices [vendidos] There are affordable Pixel 6a and Pixel 7a models, which means Google has managed to capture the mid-range of the Japanese smartphone market. “Price seems to be the determining factor and time will tell whether this trend will continue. Apple just introduced the iPhone 15.

Everyone’s falling in the US… except Pixel. Data from Japan added another surprise to the USA. According to Canalys, sales fell 22% in the second quarter of 2023, making it the worst period in the last decade. Apple is down 20 percent, Samsung is down 27 percent, Motorola is down 25 percent, and TCL is down 30 percent, but while these crashes were happening, Google grew by 59 percent in the same period.

Google came from a very low level. While the data is surprising, it must be said that Pixel’s sales (0.8 million units) and share (2%) in the same period last year were not very remarkable. Again, we’ll see if Google can continue to grow; This is something that the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, which will be announced next week, may also help with.

Image | Markus Kniebes

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