Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile
  3. Features

Google really doesn’t want you to buy a Pixel 6 phone

Andy Boxall
By
Sundar Pichai stands in front of a Google logo at Google I/O 2021.
This story is part of our complete Google I/O coverage

Following Google I/O 2022’s keynote, anyone who has been considering buying any Pixel 6 phone, including the newly announced Pixel 6a, has been left with a conundrum: Is it really worth it now? I’ve been going through this very question in my mind, and I keep coming back to the same answer: No.

Recommended Videos

Let me walk you through what I mean.

Google gets ahead of the leaks

The Pixel 6a announcement should have been the star of the show, but it was sidelined due to Google teasing the Pixel 7 for later this year. It has to be assumed this is an attempt to take the sting out of subsequent leaks, and probably viewed as a great way to build anticipation. But by telling us the Pixel 7 will arrive in the fall — presumably around September or October — the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro have become officially old.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

There’s nothing wrong with either phone, but we now absolutely know they will be replaced in around four months’ time. When you’re thinking about paying $900 for a flagship phone, you want to get the best possible one for your money. Google confirmed the Pixel 7 will have a new Tensor 2 chip inside, a refined and even better-looking design, Android 13, and presumably an improved camera. The newer your phone is, the longer the software support will be too.

Paying your hard-earned money for a full-price top smartphone that will only be the latest and greatest for such a short time isn’t the shrewdest financial decision, regardless of whether you’re worried about specifications or not. Google may have made any Pixel 7 rumors (a bit) less newsworthy, but in doing so, it has made its current flagship phone one for the discount bin.

Wait and see about the Pixel 6a

Waiting for the Pixel 7 Pro is the wisest decision if you’ve been thinking about buying the Pixel 6 Pro, but what about the Pixel 6 or the new Pixel 6a? This is slightly more complicated. The Pixel 6a isn’t going to be available as a pre-order until the end of July and will cost $450 (or $499 on Verizon, thanks to mmWave). The specifications are good enough that it’d be worth recommending over the Pixel 6 to reap the $150 savings, but this really only applies if it was coming out today.

Google Pixel 6a
Google

Assuming deliveries will start at the end of July or the very beginning of August for the Pixel 6a, the sensible decision at that time will be to wait a couple of months and see what the Pixel 7 brings. If it costs $599 again and comes with the Tensor 2 and an improved camera, even though that’s a $150 premium over the Pixel 6a (which has 2021 tech inside), it will still be a very tempting proposition.

Best of all, there’s nothing for you as the buyer to lose. If none of this works out and the Pixel 7 is much more expensive, or not that much of an upgrade, the Pixel 6a will still be there for you to buy. There’s no reason to rush into it unless you absolutely must have a new phone, and that it has to be the Pixel 6a.

It’s the Pixel 7 all the way

Almost regardless of the way you work it out in your head, all roads lead to the Pixel 7 at the moment. Google’s decision to tease the next flagship phone release now, along with its need to hold the Pixel 6a for weeks, has made any Pixel 6 phone really quite undesirable. The Pixel 6a’s not-quite-a-bargain price hasn’t helped much either. During the keynote, Google boasted that the Pixel 6 had outsold the Pixel 4 and Pixel 5 combined, but its actions could see those sales numbers fall off a cliff from this point on.

This isn’t a new problem that phone buyers are only just facing. Everyone knows manufacturers update their products on an annual basis, and if we constantly wait for the next version to come out, we’d never buy anything. However, this isn’t the problem here. It’s knowing the time frame involved and not just through rumor, but from the actual company that cements the Pixel 6’s fate.

It’s not me saying, “wait and see what the next one brings,” it’s Google saying it.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Andy Boxall
Andy Boxall
Senior Mobile Writer
Andy is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends, where he concentrates on mobile technology, a subject he has written about for…
Google’s future Pixel phones just got hit with bad news
Sage green Pixel 6a and Snow Pixel 7a in hand

Google’s current-gen Pixel smartphones are rewarding from multiple perspectives. They don’t cost as dishearteningly much as Samsung or Apple flagships. You get a consistently impressive camera experience. Plus, the software is pristine Android with a ton of convenient tricks.

Where the Pixels falter is raw performance and some nagging chip-adjacent problems. It’s not entirely Google’s fault, either. But if you were hoping for a turnaround, you might want to revise your hope scheduling. According to The Information, the “first fully customized chip” from the Tensor division won’t be here until 2025.

Read more
The Pixel 8 may fix two of my biggest complaints about the Pixel 7
The back of the Pixel 7 Pro held in a person's hand.

The Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro are expected to arrive later this fall, and despite being months away from their release date, we're already learning a lot about them. Most recently, a new report has shed some light on various specs for the two phones — and it looks promising.

Over the weekend, Android Authority shared a few exclusive details about the Pixel 8 family, citing a "source inside Google" from which they came from. There's plenty to dig through here, but the most interesting has to do with the reported battery life and charging upgrades.
Upgrades to battery life and charging

Read more
I’ve used an iPhone for 14 years. The Pixel Fold made me want to stop
Google Pixel Fold in Obsidian open on Pixar Pier portrait mode.

When Steve Jobs took the stage on January 9, 2007, to unveil the original iPhone, everyone was amazed at the little piece of technology he held in his hand. Then in June 2007, people could buy and get their hands on the very first iPhone — and the scope of the cell phone industry changed forever.

I personally didn't get the original iPhone on launch day, believe it or not. Instead, I received it as a birthday present in 2008 (my very first Apple product), but my clumsy self eventually dropped it on cement four months later, and the screen shattered. But instead of getting it fixed, I figured I might as well just get the iPhone 3G since it was just a few weeks away from release.

Read more