Pixel 6 release date and pricing confirmed in German retail ad

Kyle Bradshaw | Oct 6 2021 - 12:16 pm PT

Two of the biggest questions about the upcoming Pixel 6 series have been the pricing and the release date. Thanks to a new ad being distributed in Germany, both of these have been confirmed along with some other new details.

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With the Pixel 5 taking a big step away from the flagship tier of Android phones into the upper-mid-tier, the price point for this year’s Pixel 6 has never been more crucial. We’ve already heard from multiple sources that Google was possibly planning to sell the base Pixel 6 for €649 and the Pixel 6 Pro for €899. However, with no indication of the phones’ release date, there was potential for Google to tweak things before launch.

Instead, it now seems the Pixel 6’s price is essentially locked in, with at least one retailer sharing both pricing and availability for the Pixel 6 series in Europe. As shared on the German online community MyDealz, via Nils Ahrensmeier, the latest promotional booklet from retailer Saturn includes a full-page advertisement for the Pixel 6 series.

More specifically, the ad has to do with a promotion for early buyers of the Pixel 6 series. Those who pre-order the phone from Saturn (and possibly other retailers) within the promotional window – October 19 through October 27 – will receive a free set of Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700. While no information is given about the Pixel 6 Pro, the ad shows that the base model Pixel 6 will indeed start at €649.

As a reminder, the European prices for the phone likely will not convert directly to the American prices. Last year, the Pixel 5 was actually noticeably cheaper in Europe because models sold there did not have mmWave connectivity, while the US models did. Until any differences between the US and EU models of Pixel 6 are confirmed, it’s too early to speculate on the US pricing.

Given that Saturn’s ad is about a pre-order deal, the fact that it ends at 11:59 p.m. on October 27 points to the next day, October 28, as the proper release date of the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, at least in Germany. This means that fans won’t have to wait long after the upcoming October 19 event to get their hands on Google’s latest flagship.

Another quirk of the listing is the mention of “Gesichtserkennung” which translates to “face recognition.” So far, we’ve seen no other strong indicators of Google bringing face recognition back to the Pixel 6. The feature debuted on the Pixel 4, with assistance from the built-in Soli sensor, but was not present on the Pixel 5. It’s possible that face recognition here is simply a reference to Google Camera’s Familiar Faces feature, but it’s mentioned in the same bullet point as the fingerprint sensor.

This article has been updated with context about pricing conversions.