Google focusing ‘more intently on the Pixel line’ and saw ‘great momentum’ with 6a and 7/Pro

Abner Li | Feb 2 2023 - 1:58 pm PT

Alphabet just reported Q4 2022 earnings that include the holiday season and the launch of the latest Pixel devices, which are seeing “great momentum.”

That is according to CEO Sundar Pichai today, with Cloud and YouTube subscriptions also seeing “great momentum.”

The company doesn’t break out hardware sales, but instead includes it as part of “other” revenues with the Play Store and non-advertising YouTube revenues (subscriptions). Google reported $8.79 billion for Q4 2022 compared to $8.16 billion the same quarter last year.

During the earnings call, Pichai said the Pixel 6, 7, and 7 Pro are the “best selling generation of phones we have ever launched, and we gained share in every market we operate in this year.” With the 7 and 7 Pro, Pixel expanded to Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. This was the first market expansion in some time with availability up to 17 countries now.

He cited Magic Eraser and Photo Unblur as “help differentiate Pixel from others.”

…we are working to improve the economics in hardware as we focus more intently on the Pixel line and our overall cost structure there.
Sundar Pichai

The Pixel Watch was mentioned in the context of consumers “thinking beyond phones.”

Increasingly, I think users are thinking beyond phones and thinking through a holistic ecosystem.

To give one example, us undertaking Pixel Watch and as part of that integrating Fitbit and bringing it into our ecosystem as well. Partnering closely with Samsung on Wear OS. The combination is what has driven an over 300 percent increase in active on Android watches ecosystem.
Pichai

Overall, he said the “computing portfolio is incredibly important”:

It’s what allows us to invest and drive innovation forward. You have to put it all together as a product and ship it. I think it ends up playing a very, very big role in guiding the ecosystem as well.

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