Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro pricing has popped up for the UK and US, giving us a pretty solid idea of what Google will be asking for its next-generation Pixel phones.
On X, a claimed tipster by the name of Kamila posted what looks like a screenshot of official US pricing for the upcoming Pixel phone: the Pixel 8 is priced at $699, a jump of $100 over the Pixel 7, but it's unclear if the base storage has jumped up from 128GB to 256GB to justify the price rise. The Google Pixel 8 Pro has been tipped to cost $899, the same starting price as the Pixel 7 Pro.
I wasn't really going to do this today, but someone claims they know the prices of the Pixel 8 series in the US, which isn't really true, so here it is-The Pixel 8 series pricing in the US from the most credible source there is - Google themselves. pic.twitter.com/t0dv4YtMl5September 24, 2023
UK prices come courtesy of reputable tipster Roland Quandt, who has the Pixel 8 priced at £699, which is £100 more than the Pixel 7. And Quandt claims the Pixel 8 Pro will set UK buyers back by £999, which is a healthy bump up from the £849 Pixel 7 Pro.
Unfortunately, we don’t have any hints on Australian or other pricing yet that lines up with the prices above. But it wouldn’t be unreasonable to see a price jump for both models in other regions too.
While a jump in price isn’t likely to put a smile on anyone’s face, it’s worth noting that these tipped Pixel 8 prices still see the Google phones undercut the iPhone 15, which starts at $799 / £799 / AU$1,499, and the Samsung Galaxy S23, which starts at $799 / £849 / AU$1.349. And if Google does equip the Pixel 8 with a new base storage of 256GB rather than 128GB, then the sting of the price hike could be mitigated.
Pixel price pinch
Unfortunately, price increases for flagship phones aren’t uncommon, with a hike in manufacturing costs and supply of parts seeing the overall device price increase for consumers.
The real question is whether Google's Pixel 8 phones will be able to justify the extra outlay. Going by the rumors so far, the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro look to be more iterative upgrades on their predecessors; we can expect some regiments in battery life and photography.
But the addition of the rumored Tensor 3 chip could be more significant, with it powering new smart features such as Video Unblur, which is tipped to remove blur from videos of fast moving objects. We also hope a new AI-centric chip will deliver a boost in the next-gen Pixel’s overall smart features, say, making translation and image recognition features faster and more accurate.
In any case, with the new Pixel phones expected to arrive on October 4, alongside the rumored Pixel Watch 2, we don’t have long to wait to see what Google has planned for its next Pixel products.
