For the vast majority of phone-owners, though, it means — drumroll, please — absolutely nothing. With the right sort of software optimizations and attention to experience, you are absolutely not going to notice or in any way be aware of the difference between a Snapdragon processor — the top-tier chip of the moment — and the Snapdragon G, the power center now believed to be present in the upcoming Pixel 5.
If you want the full technical explanation of the differences between those under-the-hood elements, you can find a good overview here. But if anything mentioned on that page actually matters to you, well, let's just say you definitely fall into the first category described above. And that seemingly little shift could make a world of difference in how the phone is perceived — and ultimately, if Google plays its cards right, in how well it sells. As is often the case in these quarters, there's an almost eerily appropriate historical analogy to think back on for perspective.
We tend to think about the Pixel phone as being Google's first self-made Android device, but Google actually released its first phone developed completely in house three years earlier — in That's when the first-gen Moto X came into the world. At the time, as you may recall, Google owned Motorola. And when the Moto X was announced, lots of tech heads were quick to write the device off for its less-than-stellar specs and not-top-of-the-line internals.
The phone's processor is the perfect example: The Moto X caught tons of flak for having a mere dual-core processor at a time when high-end flagships were moving to the newer, more exciting -sounding quad-core standard. But guess what? The Moto X actually felt faster in real-world use than most of its quad-core contemporaries.
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It was an important lesson in the notion that specs were no longer everything. What matters more than the model of the chip inside a phone is the way the company making the device uses that chip along with software and other elements to create an effective real-world usage experience. As I wrote at the time, "instead of worrying about how the spec sheet might look, Moto just created a setup that delivers. And if you'll allow me to quote my favorite writer a teensy bit further :.
If you're looking for specific isolated pieces of technology It's by no means a perfect device, and there are absolutely individual areas where other smartphones come out ahead. But if you're looking for a thoughtfully designed phone with genuinely compelling features — and, most important, a cohesive and outstanding overall user experience that'll delight you from the moment you pick it up — you'll be hard-pressed to find another product that matches what the Moto X provides. Now, let's give Google the benefit of the doubt and assume it manages to create an exceptional user experience consistent with what we've seen from past Pixels in its Pixel 5 phone.
Substitute "Pixel 5" for "Moto X" in the paragraphs above, with the assumption that everything we believe about the phone now ends up being true, and those two paragraphs written in almost feel like they could be talking about this year's coming Google flagship — don't they? The premium phone market, especially in America, is notorious for being tough to compete in unless your brand name rhymes with Phlamsung or Schmapple.
Pixel 4 from Telstra
But that upper-middle-tier area — where phones are premium in nature but not quite hitting the every-bell-and-whistle-imaginable, no-piece-left-behind top-shelf positioning — is somewhere a company like Google could conceivably have a decent shot at finding its footing. Remember, despite recent progress by some Android device-makers, Pixel phones are still in a league of their own when it comes to timely and reliable software updates — a factor that savvy phone owners know means more over the course of a phone's lifespan than any single spec or external element.
Critically, Pixel phones are also the only Android devices to come with a guaranteed three full years of ongoing operating system updates, which significantly increases the value they provide over the time that you own 'em.
Heck, even a phone like the current OnePlus 7T would struggle to compete with the Pixel 5's theoretical value. Despite matching the low end of our speculative Pixel 5 pricing, even that aggressively priced phone can't come close to hitting the Pixel's overall value with that extra year of software support Google provides. And you know what else?
Last year, I pointed out the parallels between Google's position with the Pixel 3a and what the company had accomplished years earlier with the Moto G — a phone that similarly seemed boring on the surface but managed to provide an unmatched level of quality in its domain and ended up being Motorola's best-selling smartphone ever. Now, I'm wondering if the Pixel 5 could effectively be the company's Moto X moment — the shift away from trying to play the typical flagship game and instead toward a model focused on exceptional experience in a sensibly balanced package. It's a different way to think about a "flagship" phone in , and I can't help but wonder if it's one that could work.
The million-dollar question, of course, is whether Google would emulate the Moto X model only in approach and experience — or whether it'd also emulate the Moto X model in that device's critical success coupled with commercial failure.
But Google's come a long way since the Moto X days when it comes to areas like manufacturing capability, retail availability, and even marketing. Maybe, just maybe, this time could be different — and maybe this time, Google's gamble could finally pay off.
Sign up for my weekly newsletter to get more practical tips, personal recommendations, and plain-English perspective on the news that matters. Contributing Editor JR Raphael serves up tasty morsels about the human side of technology.
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Android 10 Upgrade Report Card: Progress is relative. How to make the most of your Pixel's new features. Android 10 Upgrade Report Card Do more of what you love without having to look for a power outlet. The adaptive battery learns your favorite apps and reduces power to the ones you rarely use. Photos and videos uploaded in high quality may be compressed or resized. Requires Google Account.
Data rates may apply. See g. For more information and for eligible countries see g. Actual results may vary. An active display or data usage will decrease battery life. Actual result may vary. Device Specifications. Bluetooth 5. Qualcomm Snapdragon ; 2. Wi-Fi 2.
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