Google Pixel 5 Smartphone: Economic Downturn Ready Smartphone?

Given that Google’s hardware chief said that its new flagship model was designed to be sold during an economic downturn, does the Google Pixel  5 Smartphone qualifies as such?

By: Ringo Bones

At US$699 MSRP, it is not exactly cheap and it will be facing stiff competition from comparable entry-level  smartphones made by Samsung and a plethora of Mainland Chinese made ones, but why was the Google Pixel 5 smartphone hyped as a smartphone specifically designed for an economic downturn? Given that it is way cheaper than its predecessor – the US$999 4XL, as a result, the Pixel  5 has given up some of the main features of its predecessor and runs on a slower chip that allows it to be sold at a lower price. However, the Pixel 5 still gets 5G connectivity and some new picture taking related features.

It is a given in our current state of affairs that smartphone designs are usually fixed many months before the products are sold to the general public in order to secure the necessary components and to conduct tests. Google’s senior vice president of devices and services also admitted that the Pixel  5’s features were set way before the COVID 19 pandemic began, however, he said, that a conscious decision was made to offer a 5G-enabled smartphone at an “affordable price”.

Novel features of the Pixel 5 include the capability to allow it to wirelessly charge some accessories on the back. Last year’s “face unlock” sensors have also been discontinued to be replaced instead by a fingerprint sensor used on the Pixel  3. The Pixel  5 uses the Snapdragon 765 G graphics processing chip – a slower version than last year’s Snapdragon 855. One of the reversing cameras is now equipped with a wide-angle lens and also features various video stabilization modes to choose from. In addition, the RAM memory has been increased to 8GB, which allows the phone to move from task to task faster. And what makes the Pixel 5 much better than competing Mainland Chinese smartphones costing half as much that offers similar capabilities is that the Pixel 5 offers premium Android experience with super-fast updates.