This story was updated on February 24th. Update below.
Google’s surprise Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro sale, which knocks $150 and $200 off each phone respectively, ends tomorrow, February 24th.
The discount period originally started on January 24th and it was supposed to end on February 3rd. But Google unexpectedly extended the sale until February 24th. The prices of almost all of Google’s flagship devices have been slashed, including the Pixel Fold, Pixel Buds Pro, Pixel 7a and Pixel Watch 2.
This isn’t the first time Google has discounted Pixel 8 series. Earlier this month, Google knocked £150 $(190.17) and £100 ($126.78) off the Pixel 8 and 8 Pro in the U.K.
The company has also handed out $125 gift cards to YouTube Premium subscribers to use when buying a Pixel 8. Not stopping there, it emailed $100 store credit coupons to random Google Photos users and temporarily upped its trade-in prices.
Google has never been shy about pricing its handsets competitively. From intentionally cheap Nexus phones to slashing the price of the early Pixel handsets just before Christmas. But I have never seen the company engage in repeated discounts like this before. Holding back-to-back sales is fairly unheard of and I suspect Google isn’t finished yet.
If you miss this sale but want to buy a Pixel phone, I imagine there will be many more opportunities in the coming months, especially as Samsung gears up to launch its Galaxy Fold 6 in the summer. Just as Samsung announced its Galaxy S24, Google launched a new Mint-colored Pixel 8 to steal some of the Korean company’s limelight. Check out my colleague David Phelan’s story on that here.
Competition between the biggest smartphone makers is fierce right now. Buyers are holding on to their handsets for longer, so it’s even more important for these companies to make sure you buy their phone. The repeated hardware discounts may be a sign that paywalled AI features are on the way, as Samsung has hinted at.
At the same time, Google has revamped a lot of its core products, like YouTube Premium and Google One, to entice more customers to sign up. Google One sign-ups have been particularly successful, with the company announcing recently that the cloud storage service had hit 100 million paying subscribers. Google is also giving a few months of free Gemini Advanced access to Google One 5TB+ subscribers.
Expect more of these bundled service deals, or price hikes for subscriptions to existing services like Google did for YouTube Premium, as the hardware gets cheaper.
Update February 24th: As I predicted in this story, Google is already planning to launch new deals. On the Google UK store website, a banner at the top says “great deals are coming soon. Come back 01.03.24 – 02.03.24 to shop an exclusive, limited time offer.”
There are no details on what devices are going on sale, but I’m confident the Pixel 8 range will be included. This is also a one-day flash sale, so we might see bigger discounts than before. Google has some form here, back in 2020 the company held a 24 hour sale event that knocked 22% off select products to celebrate Google’s 22nd birthday. That didn’t include any of the Pixel phones, however, rather it was focussed on the company’s new Nest products.
We will have to wait and see what Google has up its sleeve. Hit the follow button at the bottom of this story to stay up to date.
