Wow, Google *really* don't want my custom!

[Hadron]

It seems that not content with offering a choice of "big phone or even bigger phone" in the Pixel 6 range, Google are only offering the 128GB version of the Pixel 6 in the UK - if you want more (and remember there is no expansion) you have to buy the Pixel 6 Pro here, even though a 256 GB Pixel 6 exists in other countries. Reminds me of the bad old days when you could buy a 32GB Nexus in the USA but only 16GB over here.

Still I guess I should thank Google for making certain I won't cave in and decide I might put up with a phone that I'd need 2 hands to use . But as my Pixel 2 won't last another year that's the end of my time with a Google handset for the foreseeable future.

 

[ocnbrze]

i wonder how they decide that....like what country should they release which version of their phones. why can't the uk get bigger capacity phone? seems odd to me.

and don't knock bigger phones. once i had my hands on the Note series, i could never go back to a smaller phone.

 

[Hadron]

I know my preferences well enough though: I've been using 68-70mm wide phones since 2013 and never got really comfortable with them, while a larger phone has no advantage to me to offset the poorer ergonomics (basically one-handed use is important to me, watching video isn't, and I don't have large hands). The only reason I'd consider it is if forced by the total lack of more reasonable-sized options - which we're getting close to, and hence my moment of weakness before the annoucement!

I've no idea how these manufacturers make decisions like that, but for some reason many manufacturers think that Europeans are happy with the smallest storage capacities. As I say, Google have done this before and are doing it again, LG did it with the G6, Asus are currently doing it with the Zenfone 8, Samsung did it with some of the earlier Galaxy S models and HTC with the original One: they made higher capacity models, but never released them here. I'm not sure how they decide that we don't want higher capacities here though when they never offer them for sale in the first place?

 

[Unforgiven]

I always assume you follow the money. Look if there is some arcane regulation, import duty, red tape, or other thing making it not economical to meet demand.

 

[Hadron]

There's no regulation or duty that relates to storage capacity, and all of these things are clear of any duty threshold. It can only be that they have the idea that we won't buy the higher spec in sufficient quantities to be worth offering (or, in cases like LG, who only offered one model in each region anyway but decided we could have the lowest-spec one on the planet, that we'd settle for a weak spec and be grateful - and you wonder why they are out of the business now ). I'd consider the idea that they think they can upsell to the more expensive and profitable model, but that only applies to the Pixel 6/Pro: the other examples didn't even have a more expensive model to upsell to.

 

[RCG]

First, people bitched that phone batteries were too small, so manufacturers included larger batteries.

Unfortunately, phones are pretty much built around the battery.

So now folks bitch that phones are too big.

 

[Hadron]

I never bitched about the batteries. But the size of my hands is a constant, and hence the ergonomics of big phones will never improve.

The problem is that big screens appeal to people who use phones for video and don't mind using 2 hands to operate them. I use mine as a utility when on the move, so one-handed operation is important to me, and conversely have many better devices for video. But phones are commodity products where most manufacturers make little money, so the tendency is to find one type of product where they reckon the money is and produce nothing else. Sensible-sized phones are not the first segment to die as a result.

But this is nothing new. My real indignation was Google deciding that the UK market could get by with the low-capacity version of the Pixel 6, even though they make higher capacity ones.