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Google Store and Project Fi no longer selling the original Google Pixel, Pixel XL

The Pixel in 2016 kicked off Google’s latest and most committed push into entering hardware. When the second-generation Made by Google phones launched last October, the original device was kept around with a $100 price cut. Today, those first phones are no longer in stock on the Google Store or Project Fi.

Today (as spotted by Droid-Life), the device listing was removed from the Google Store’s Phones section. Previously side-by-side with the Google Pixel 2, only a lone “Accessories” category joins the latest flagship.

Even after 18 months, the Pixel and Pixel XL are still excellent phones, with the official $100 price cut making the phones even more attractive. Over the next few months, availability did significantly diminish with the smaller 5-inch phone no longer available in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, the original Pixel is also gone from the Project Fi store, Google’s MVNO service. Only the Pixel 2 and Moto X4 are available. Fortunately, users who really prefer the old phone can still find it on Verizon — where it is actively being sold — and other retailers.

Given today’s removal, Google likely kept the device due to having excess inventory rather than a strategy of purposefully keeping last year’s device around at a cheaper price point, like Apple.

9to5Google’s Take

In the context of a rumored mid-range Pixel coming this year, it appears that Google would rather make a purpose-built device for other markets than just sell last year’s model at a lower price point. The latter solution has clearly worked for Apple, but Google appears to be taking a different approach.


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