Google on Track to Sell 3 Million Pixel Smartphones This Year; 5-6 Million Next Year: Morgan Stanley

With the demise of Galaxy Note 7, many believed that Google's Pixel smartphones will fill the gap left by it. It certainly does appear to be turning out true in Google's favour. Morgan Stanley has predicted that Google will sell 3 million Pixel smartphones by end of 2016 and this will generate $2 billion in revenue.

(Also see: Google Pixel XL Review)

It further estimates that Google will sell around 5-6 million Pixel smartphone in 2017 and will help the company generate $3.8 billion revenue. According to a note by Morgan Stanley (via Business Insider), Google's Pixel smartphones will be "half as profitable for Google as the iPhone is to Apple."

The note however adds that Google will be able to make money apart from just selling the Pixel phones. Morgan Stanley believes that Google will be able to leverage "Android user monetisation."

In India, the Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones have been available with great discounts through e-commerce websites. Earlier this month, online retailer Flipkart under Pixel Exchange Festival was offering discounts of up to Rs. 26,000 on exchange of any current smartphone for a Pixel phone. Google Pixel smartphone price in India starts at Rs. 57,000.

To refresh, the Google Pixel and Pixel XL phones sport an aluminium unibody and also feature polished glass combination at the back.

Both phones are powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor and pack 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM. The smartphones sport 12.3-megapixel rear camera with a Sony IMX378 sensor, PDAF, a large f/2.0 aperture and 1.55-micron pixels. Both sport an 8-megapixel front camera. The Google Pixel sports a 5-inch full-HD Amoled display and the Google Pixel XL sports a 5.5-inch Quad HD Amoled display - both with Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection. The biggest highlights of the Pixel smartphones are they come with inbuilt Google Assistant and offer unlimited storage for full-resolution photos and videos via Google Photos. The Pixel phones are also the first Google-branded phones.