The best smartphones are getting more expensive all the time, and according to a leak from a reliable source, so too will the Pixel 4. But don't worry — it might not be as bad as you think.
We have insight on the Canadian price of Google's forthcoming flagship, courtesy of Evan Blass, who says the Pixel 4 will start at CAD $1049.95 for the cheapest, 64GB, 5.7-inch model. That doesn't sound too encouraging to anyone who paid USD $799 for a Pixel 3 after launch, until you realize that the Pixel 3 cost CAD $999 when it debuted in Canada last year.
That means we could be looking at a CAD $50 increase for the Pixel 4. And though you might be inclined to convert that price hike to USD, as Blass points out, currency conversions rarely determine pricing by region alone. In other words, Google may simply elect to bump the Pixel 4's price by $50 in the U.S. as well. Not the greatest news in the world, but then not as awful as some feared.
Still, even at CAD $1,049, the Pixel 4 wouldn't be as expensive as the 64GB iPhone 11 Pro, which starts at CAD $1,379. In fact, it would be dead even with the 128GB iPhone 11, which also costs CAD $1,049.
Meanwhile, Blass reports that the higher capacity, 128GB Pixel 4 will cost CAD $1,199 — a CAD $150 premium over the base model with half the storage, and CAD $20 higher than the differential between the 64GB and 128GB Pixel 3 models last year.
In fact, the 64GB variant of the 6.3-inch Pixel 4 XL is also priced at CAD $1,199, while the 128GB one tops the range at CAD $1,359.
It's not surprising that the Pixel 4 would be a bit more expensive, both because it's the way the industry has trended but also because the Pixel 4 boasts a few noteworthy features that seem as though they would drive up the price of the handset.
Google's next phone will be capable of sophisticated, three-dimensional Face Unlock, much like Apple's Face ID technology. It will also introduce Motion Sense — Google's system for air gestures based on its Project Soli radar system that has been in development for quite some time. The Pixel 4 will even feature a 90Hz display, like the OnePlus 7T and 7 Pro.
In fact, we happen to know a lot about the Pixel 4, thanks to Google confirming some of those aforementioned features and a cascade of leaks that have emerged over the past three months. The one thing we don't know for certain is the price, which we'll find out at Google's Oct. 15 reveal — so stay tuned.
