Google, We Need to Talk About the Pixel 3 Lite (Premium)

It's getting to the point where Google and I have a rich history of the search giant ignoring my advice. This is going to be another example.

As you may have seen, Google has created and will soon sell two new members of the Pixel family, the Pixel 3 Lite and Pixel 3 Lite XL. As the names suggest, these upcoming new Pixels are much like Google's expensive flagship smartphones, but with lesser components and smaller price tags.

Less obviously, the Lite Pixels are in some ways more desirable than the mainstream Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL. For example, the Pixel 3 Lite XL doesn't include the Pixel 3 XL's obnoxiously-large buck-toothed display notch.

I'll get to the other particulars in a moment. First, I need to get this off of my chest: Google should not sell either of these new "Lite" handsets. Doing so would simply add weight to the sinking ship that is Google's Pixel smartphone business and accelerate its decline.

Yes, this should be obvious.

A more credible company---say, Microsoft---would look at the Pixel's current market situation and the product line's unbelievable reliability problems and would scuttle any plans for more phones. That is, Google should do what Microsoft did in the wake of its Surface reliability problems: Fix the issues first.Then release new devices.

As important, we now have Apple's struggles with the iPhone XR as a shining example of what happens when a company that makes only flagship handsets releases a less expensive version that isn't quite as good as the rest of the product family. (And no offense to Google, but OnePlus briefly offered a non-flagship handset years ago, too, and that smaller company is a lot more similar to Google's handset business than Apple is.)

I have a solution.

It's the same solution I offered to Google in 2016 when it foolishly tried to mimic Apple, both stylistically and in pricing, with its first Pixel phones, eliminating the advantages it had previously offered to consumers with the Nexus 5X and 6P. It's also the same solution I offered to Google in 2017 when it inexplicably raised prices yet again, as if by imitating what the market leaders were doing at that time would somehow make Google a market leader too.

Google needs to lower the price of the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL. Permanently.

Introducing lower-priced options doesn't solve this problem. As it stands, the Pixel 3 and 3 XL are not competitive. They do not justify Google's pricing.

Understanding the Pixel 3 Lite and Pixel 3 Lite XL will help put this argument in context. In doing so, it's likewise important to understand how the iPhone XR differs from its much more expensive iPhone XS and XS Max siblings.

While there are a number of differences, including the price, there's one that really stands out: The display technology, which is LCD, not AMOLED, and it requires backlighting that necessitates bigger bezels. Beyond this, there are differences in display size (which is too big for many), body ...

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