In case some of you missed it, Google has been… very generous lately.
The company offers some exceptional freebies and trade-in deals with your Pixel purchase, and that’s… wonderful. Who doesn’t like a bargain? That’s the same question I asked myself before shelling out $900 for a Pixel 6 Pro about ten months ago. The irresistible offer, which I wish I had resisted, included my Pixel 6 Pro and a pair of Bose 700 headphones, worth around €350 at the time. My cousin bought a Pixel 6, and since Google was running out of Bose 700, he switched to Bose QC 35II, which were even more expensive at the time, and added a €75 Google Store coupon, exceeding €400 value and virtually selling the Pixel 6 for €200-250, down from its original price of €650 at launch, in Europe. For the record, US buyers received a free pair of Pixel Buds A with the purchase of the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. Even then, though, I thought, “Why so generous, Google?” . The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro were already noticeably more affordable than flagship phones from Samsung and Expensive giveaways from Apple and Google made it all seem too good to be true.
Because… it was too good to be true.
Google will pay you $200 and give you a Pixel 6A for your iPhone 13 Pro Max or $300 for an old iPhone 7, iPhone 8
Google will pay you to trade in your iPhone for a Pixel.
The initial idea for this story had been sitting in a document for many months, and the reason I decided it was a good time to bring it up was another set of “too good to be true” offers Google made available.
This time, the incredible offers refer to the newly launched Google Pixel 6A. Let’s take a look at some swap deals in Europe and the US. As of now, Sundar Pichai & Co allows you to trade your:
- iPhone 7, iPhone 8 for up to $300 (US)
- Galaxy S10 for $300 (US)
- iPhone 4S for €90 (Europe)
- iPhone SE 2016 for €150 (Europe)
- Galaxy S9 for $175 (Europe)
- iPhone 8 for €250 (Europe)
This by itself is an incredible value, as a phone like the iPhone 4S is worth virtually nothing right now. The most impressive trade-in deals, though, are for the old iPhone 7 and iPhone 8. These phones are over five years old at the moment, and Google is ready to give you up to $300 if you switch to the Pixel 6A, bringing the price down. of the excellent mid-range phone at just $150. But that is not all…
When the Pixel 6A was pre-ordered in the US, UK, and Europe, Google gave away a pair of Pixel Buds A worth $100. This offer is gone for now, but at the time, combined with some of the trade-in deals for older iPhones, this would have gotten you a Pixel 6A for practically $100, which is:
1. Hilarious
2. Almost suspiciously incredible
Did Google always know the Pixel 6 series was going to be problematic and are freebies trying to buy your happiness and patience?
Too good to be true or good enough to make up for mistakes?
All of these suspiciously amazing offers lead me back to the original question I had. Are Google’s insanely generous deals and giveaways a way to make up for what the company knows are faulty devices, or is Google simply ready to sell some phones at a loss along the way to establish itself as a serious player? Xiaomi is known to do the latter.Of course, we cannot know the answer to this question. However, I can give you two perfectly different perspectives on the fact that Google gave out so many freebies and good deals for the buggy Pixel 6 series:
The first is my perspective as a Pixel 6 Pro owner who is also a tech enthusiast. I think the pair of Bose 700 headphones I received doesn’t make up for the buggy phone I bought for €900 at all, which was buggy for a full 10 months (things seem to get better with Android 13, but we’ll talk about that in a future story).
My cousin, on the other hand, who, as I said, paid €650 for a Pixel 6 and a couple of the latest Bose QC IIs at the time, was more than willing to put up with the totally broken fingerprint reader on his Pixel 6, which Google took around a month to fix. He loves his Bose headphones and wears them all the time, so whatever Google’s intentions are, it seems the gifts bought him happiness and patience. I told him he could return the phone, but he didn’t want to. Despite the Pixel 6’s inconsistent performance, he thought he was getting a good value.
Pixel 7 series: Is it worth pre-ordering a potentially faulty phone in exchange for a pair of headphones and a good trade-in offer?
I wouldn’t risk pre-ordering another phone from Google again.
I know it’s a very personal and even family-focused story, but I actually like the fact that I can work with practical examples here.
Look, my mom and aunt are using a Galaxy S9 and an iPhone 8 right now. They both want and frankly need a new phone right now. My aunt says the iPhone 8’s poor battery life and low storage are getting harder to ignore, and my mom’s Galaxy S9 (which, as you can imagine, I have to use sometimes) is a slow mess, there is no better way to say it. Of course, they’re not up to date with the latest and greatest in smartphones, which means I had to make an important decision on their behalf: Do I recommend a Pixel 6A, which they could indeed get for as little as $200 (Galaxy Exchange). Free S9 and Pixel Buds A) and €120 (free iPhone 8 and Pixel Buds A trade-in), or do I make the wiser decision not to repeat a possible Pixel mistake again?
I chose the latter.
Now, will Google continue the trend of awesome gift packages, trade-in deals, and buggy flagship products? We won’t have to wait too long to find out, as the The Pixel 7 series has already passed through the FFC, which means that its launch is imminent.
The good news for now and Google’s only hope remains Android 13. As hinted above, I installed the update on my Pixel 6 Pro, which now appears to be more stable than ever. I’ll give myself another week or so just to make sure how fixed is the Pixel 6 ProAnd then I’ll tell you all about it in a new story. Until then, I’d think twice about Google’s amazing deals.