The say les of the Google Pixel smartphones took a hit in the first quarter of 2019, the company confirmed during its earnings call. The company further announced the launch of Google hardware product at this year’s I/O scheduled to take place from May 7-9 at company headquarters. Company CFO Ruth Porat suggested that they sold fewer Pixel 3 phones than expected, and his thoughts were echoed by CEO Sundar Pichai, who blamed the drop on ‘headwinds’ that are putting pressure on flagship devices.
“With respect to hardware results, while the first quarter results reflect pressures in the premium smartphone industry, we are pleased with the ongoing momentum for Assistant-enabled home devices, particularly the Home Hub and Mini devices and look forward to our May 7th announcement at I/O from the hardware team,” Porat said, while announcing that Alphabet Inc, posted a net income of $6.6 billion on $36.33 billion in revenue in the Q1 2019.
Contrary to this, Pichai painted a positive picture by adding, “I think we are working through a phase where there is definite year-on-year headwinds. But I do think, especially since the ecosystem is constantly pushing it forward, I continue to be excited about the innovation speed.” Pichai, however, did not explain what “headwinds” caused the drop. “We are still early in our hardware journey. And when I look ahead at the portfolio that we created across Pixel, Home, and Nest, I feel really good about the range of products that we have,” he added.
The news comes at a time when Google is all geared up to launch two mid-range devices Pixel 3a and Pixel 3a XL. These phones have been leaked a lot, and have also been spotted on several certification as well as benchmarking websites. The Google Pixel 3a had also appeared as a link on Google’s own Play Store, and a tipster had also claimed that both the mid-range offerings from the search giant are being tested in India.