by This week is everyone’s favorite shopping holiday: Black Friday. Google’s Black Friday deals are already running on the Google Store and Amazon. Many of these represent the first discounts for Google’s new hardware announced last month.
First off, we have phones where Google is offering $150 off the Pixel 7 Pro (Google, Amazon) and Pixel 6a (Google, Amazon) and $100 off the Pixel 7 (Google, Amazon). This Pixel 6a deal is a real eye-catcher: $150 off the already good price of $449 makes for a $300 device that will cover most people’s basic smartphone needs. Keep in mind that the Pixel 6a has a Google Tensor 1 SoC, which is almost on par with the flagship class. With Google (and really every other Android SoC vendor) not making much performance year after year, you get almost the same benchmarks from the Pixel 6a as the normally $900 Pixel 7 Pro, but now for a third of the price. It has a great camera, water resistance, Wi-Fi 6e support, and a fast and clean Android build with day-one updates. You won’t wow anyone with a 60Hz display, but if you just need a basic smartphone, this is a steal at $300.
The $150 off Pixel 7 Pro is also a great deal. That’s $750 for a phone with all the fancy extras like a 120Hz display and wireless charging.
Another eye-catching deal: Half-price Nest speakers. Normally $100, Nest Audio speakers are now $50 each, while the Nest Mini is even lower at $20 instead of the usual $50 (Amazon doesn’t sell Google speakers because they compete with the echo line). I’d like to stress that I don’t recommend using Google’s music service, but the speakers play Spotify just fine, connect to tons of music apps via the Google Cast button, and are great voice controls for a smart home. Google is also offering $10 off any Chromecast model (Google, Amazon) for more media-slinging fun.
We also have the first discount for the Pixel Watch (Google, Amazon), a product that, while a good reboot into the smartwatch market for Google, badly needs a lower price point. The MSRP of $350-$400 is a joke compared to the $250 Apple Watch SE or the $280 Galaxy Watch 5, both of which have much better, newer hardware than the Pixel Watch. Google’s first rebate is, uh, $50? It’s a start, but Google needs to keep going if it’s to get anywhere near a competitive price point.
The Google Store has also introduced its Christmas return policy, which means that all purchases made up to Christmas can be returned until January 15th.
