Google's Pixel phones won on camera software and whimsical colour names
The first Pixel came in Very Silver, Quite Black and Really Blue. Later ones arrived as Just Black, Clearly White, Not Pink and Oh So Orange. Behind the jokey paint names sat a serious bet by Google: that clever software could make a phone camera beat rivals with fancier hardware.
Google first used the Pixel name in February 2013 for a Chromebook laptop. Phones followed in October 2016, replacing the older Nexus range, when the Pixel and the larger Pixel XL were unveiled on 4 October. Their camera took the top spot on DxOMark's mobile ranking with a score of 90, largely thanks to processing tricks such as HDR+, and buyers got unlimited cloud storage for photos on Google Photos.
Each autumn brought a new generation with steady refinements. The Pixel 2 of 2017 improved water and dust resistance to IP67 and added optical image stabilisation. The Pixel 3 in 2018 moved to a glass back with wireless charging and a second, wide-angle selfie camera. The Pixel 4 in 2019 introduced a smoother 90 Hz screen and a telephoto lens alongside the main sensor.
Google also created cheaper spin-offs. The Pixel 3a and 3a XL were announced at its developer conference in May 2019 as budget versions of the flagship, dropping wireless charging but keeping the main camera. The Pixel 4a and a 5G variant followed in 2020, each with a hole punched in the display for the front camera.
Security became a selling point too. In 2019 Google offered bug hunters up to $1.5 million for breaking the Titan M security chip in the Pixel 3, 3a and 4. Not everything went smoothly: that same year a class action over faulty microphones let some owners claim up to $500.
Source: Google Pixel
