The Pixel 6 isn't selling very well at carriers, even with high salesperson kickbacks

The Pixel 6 isn’t selling very well at carriers, even with high salesperson kickbacks

The Pixel 6 series isn’t selling very well at carrier stores, according to a new report by Wave7. Detailed byPCMag(the report doesn’t appear to have been published publicly), Google has resorted to strong “spiff” promotions to incentivize salespeople at Verizon to sell the phone, with one Wave7 representative blaming the phone’s reputation for bugs and performance issues as a limiting factor.

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Verizon is seemingly theonlycarrier that has had any interest in the Pixel lineup, according to the report, and at least one sales rep told Wave7 that they sold Pixels to customers looking for the Galaxy S22 when those phones were sold out — presenting the Pixel 6 as an alternative to another popular device, rather than something to be marketed and sold in itself (ouch).

In contrast, the Pixel 6 series isreportedly setting all-time quarterly sales records at Google, with analyst firm Counterpoint later reporting that Google’s sales are up 56% year-over-year as ofQ4 2021. The market may be consolidating after LG’s exit, but recent reports from the firm place Google as the #3 brand in North America for premium ($400+) smartphones as of 2021, behind Apple and Samsung and either#4or #6 overall for Q4 2021 in North America and the US, respectively.

Global smartphone brand rankings by region in the premium ($400+) segment for 2021, image viaCounterpoint.

Google hasn’t shared any precise sales metrics for the Pixel 6 series yet, but the company did run into issueskeeping the Pixel 6 series in stockat release, with strong initial demand. In October, another report expressed that Google hoped to double its smartphone sales in 2021,nearly doubling its initial order for the Pixel 6 and 6 Procompared to the total number of units it produced in all of 2020 (from 3.7 million to 7 million).

The Pixel 6’s reputation of bugs and update problemshas impacted its reputation among smartphone enthusiasts — a group more likely to upgrade phones frequently and purchase directly from the manufacturer or outright, who are unlikely to be mentioned in a seemingly carrier-centric report like this — but that impression may be bleeding over into the mainstream, according to the report. One rep in Wave7’s survey claims the phone is only being purchased by “diehard” Pixel fans, with customers apparently aware of the problems.

If the Pixel 6’s issues end up bleeding over tothe upcoming Pixel 6a,that reputation could extend to the often well-received Pixel a-series as well. Givenmany of the issues could be tied to Google’s in-house Tensor chipset, and given the Pixel 6a will share that hardware, the company could be in for some trouble later this year when it comes out.

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