Google announced its Pixel 6 last week, but the Pixel 5a is almost certainly the phone we’ll see first.
- By the way, “we” are people in the USA and Japan: Google only makes it available in two countries: the USA and Japan.
Anyway, the latest is over Bloombergs Mark Gurman, who noted in his Sunday newsletter:
- “Google’s new low-end pixel phone is only a few days away. Expect the inexpensive 5a with a Qualcomm chip, not a custom design, to hit the market in the next two weeks. “
This is in line with previous information about starting Pixel 5a, including:
- Google said it would be announced “in line with the launch of last year’s A-series phone,” which was August 3, 2020, by the way.
- The Pixel 5a also passed the FCC last month.
- And some leaks and rumors, none of which seem believable on their own, but all of which together are starting to make sense.
… but why only two countries?
- Google’s approach to selling has always been confusing. The international availability of its hardware and services is always very limited – it just doesn’t like selling its stuff internationally and has never really tried.
- The Pixel 2 was launched in seven countries. Now the Pixel 5a only sells in two?
- Everyone’s favorite colleague Android authority, Bogdan Petrovan, wrote in 2017: “Google can’t be that bad when it comes to selling phones.”
- At the very least, the ongoing pandemic has provided Google with an excuse to stick with the US, which makes sense, and Japan for reasons that are less obvious. “It’s not up to us, it’s because of the scarcity of chips,” Google will probably say.
- That may be fair, given the little control Google will have over chip shipments.
Insights into Nokia’s supply chain:
- I spoke to Eric Matthes, General Manager of HMD Global in Germany and surrounding countries, a few weeks ago, who confirmed that Nokia smartphones have their own supply chain problems.
- Matthes mentioned a general shortage of supplies, from chips to switching to displays to camera lenses, and said Black Friday orders were discussed back in July with retailers concerned about a shortage of supplies for November. November!
- Matthes also pointed out that it is the heavyweights who have the power: “Let’s say Samsung orders a million pieces and we order 20,000. Suddenly the suppliers say: ‘Oh, your offer looks difficult …’ And that is really a challenge and there is a lot to discuss. “
- By the way, Matthes said companies like him (and his ex-employer HTC) “always aim” to “advertise on Sunday and be on shelves on Monday,” but said it “just never works.”
Google’s offer:
- Since Google only accounts for one or two percent of global smartphone shipments, a component deficiency in the Pixel 5a is understandable and can even affect the launch offer in the US and Japan.
- Google’s efforts seem to be pouring into the Pixel 6 series in two months – but we don’t know yet about which countries it might launch in.
- After all, Google is building a kind of “hardware hub” in Silicon Valley (CNBC).
📸 Samsung patents a movable camera system with adaptive iris (Android authority).
📈 Redmi 10 specs, makes a leak: Redmi’s budget phone gets a 50 MP camera (Android authority).
👉 Valve Steam Deck at your fingertips: “I held the Steam Deck and I’m almost convinced.” (The edge).
💵 Google considered buying “some or all” of Epic during the big Fortnite clash of 2018, court documents say (The edge). The same documents indicated that Google had instructed Epic not to allow Fortnite sideloading.Android authority).
🍎 Apple’s “child safety” initiatives continue to reap some of the harshest criticisms of a new privacy problem I’ve seen: Now more than 5,500 individuals and organizations (security and privacy experts, cryptographers, researchers, professors, legal experts like Edward Snowden) have an open one Signed a letter asking them to do two things, primarily: “Apple Inc.’s deployment of the proposed content monitoring technology will stop immediately.” (appleprivacyletter.com). Even John Gruber is worried about the slippery slope Apple seems to be stepping on (Daring Fireball).
Speaking of which, Stingle is an open source, privacy-focused photo backup application (Ars-Technica).
🌎 A major climate report came out today: The IPCC’s sixth encyclopedic analysis of the state of climate science tells us directly – it is not doing well. You may know this, but getting 195 nations to sign a report from volunteer scientists is not easy. Just Read these five tweets even if you don’t read anything else. All is not lost yet, but there is little time to act as warming does not stop until emissions stop (Tweet).
🔋 A little surprising but sad update for the Tesla Cybertruck: Production has been postponed to 2022 as Tesla continues to work on its production processes with giant casting machines (Electrician).
🔴 NASA’s Perseverance rover is unable to collect its first Mars rock sample, a rare mishap on the previous 10/10 mission (Engage).
🚀 Midwest Missiles: Minuteman Launch Control Center is hidden within sight (CNET).
👃 “If your bedroom could only smell like one, what would it be?” (A: “The freshness when you open the windows and it’s -15 ° C outside.”) (R / askreddit).
