It seems that in the USA at least, if you want to buy a Pixel Phone from Google you’ll have at least a 3-week wait for stock. Reports are coming in that even those who were previously given sooner ship dates are now being told that the “Shipping department is running 3 weeks behind”. However, if you live in the greatest nation on earth (Australia in case that was unclear) you can still order you Pixel in any size, colour or storage capacity you like for what looks to be immediate delivery.
In an official statement on the stock shortages, a Googler gave the following statement to 9to5Google.
We’re thrilled to see the excitement for our new Pixel phones, and frankly pre-order demand has exceeded our expectations. We’re working to restock our inventory as soon as possible.
We have to admit we are somewhat surprised at the popularity of the Pixel phone, especially the outright handsets. With the Pixels premium pricing, it wasn’t clear how well the device would sell. Of course, we don’t really know how well the device has sold, we just know it’s sold better than Google’s supply chain can handle.
It will be interesting to see if we ever get metrics on how well the Pixels are selling. In speaking with many Australia stockists we are consistently hearing that the device is “moving well”, and according to one accessory supplier in Australia they also have seen higher demand for cases than they were originally anticipating.
Perhaps this really was perfect timing for the release of the Pixels, with there being no recently released high-end western focused Android phones on the market, the Note 7 issues blowing up and Nexus fans ready for new devices it looks as if even Google didn’t expect the devices to sell as well as they are.
For those wanting Google’s hardware strategy to succeed this is great news, for those hoping they would be forced back into the more affordable hardware market, not so much.
