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Google Pixels: Here's what the flagship phone needs to be a winner

Edward C. Baig
USA TODAY
Google Pixel

When Google hosts its annual I/O developer conference in Mountain View, Calif. on Wednesday, you can expect to hear more about Android O, the next version of the operating system software that fuels the overwhelming majority of smartphones around the world, including Google’s own Pixel flagship devices.

But you'll probably have to wait on new Pixels, whose current models were released at a separate event in October.

Those phones, the Pixel with a 5-inch display— listed at the Google Play Store as out of stock—and the Pixel XL with a 5.5-inch display, were generally met with positive reviews when they launched, in part as a showcase for the Google Assistant.

They haven't sold well.

According to the Strategy Analytics market intelligence and consulting firm, Google Pixel captured just 1.1% share of the U.S. smartphone market through the first three months of 2017, tumbling from 1.7% in the previous quarter.

Neil Mawston, the executive director for Wireless Device Strategies at Strategy Analytics, pins the struggles in the U.S. and overseas on issues relating to retail distribution, availability shortages and delivery delays.

Among other recommendations for new Pixels, Mawston believes Google needs to “pretty up” the hardware.

Analyst Avi Greengart, research director, for Platforms & Devices at GlobalData, would also like to see design improvements, starting with the trend towards narrower bezels like those seen on the LG G6 and Samsung Galaxy S8, and that Apple may implement in a tenth anniversary iPhone. Greengart also wants to see Google, “defend its imaging prowess against whatever improvements Apple is likely making to the next iPhone.”

But the most important thing Google can do to bolster Pixel sales, Greengart suggests, “would be to sell it through all U.S. carrier retailers and make enough of them to keep them in stock.”

While Google is keeping mum on the prospects of showcasing Pixels in a couple of days, Google senior vice president for hardware Rick Osterloh told Android Pit during Mobile World Congress a few months back that Google would indeed be bringing out premium phones this year, suggesting at the time that there’s an “annual rhythm” to when these devices get released.

Email: ebaig@usatoday.com; Follow USA TODAY Personal Tech Columnist @edbaig on Twitter

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