Telekom Deutschland, the domestic division of Deutsche Telekom, and EE revealed they have won the exclusive European rights to sell Google’s Pixel smartphones, the latest own-brand devices from the U.S. company.
The operators began taking orders for the smartphone on Tuesday, the day that Google launched the device, with the first units due to be delivered to consumers on Oct. 20.
Google announced in a blog that the UK and Germany are the only European countries where the Pixel will initially be available. Globally, the unit is also available to order in the U.S., Canada, and Australia, with India due to be added to the list on Oct. 13.
Two versions are available: the 5-inch Pixel, and 5.5-inch Pixel XL. Both feature Gorilla Glass displays, and Google boasted that the devices offer 7 hours battery life on a 15 minute charge. The devices run the latest Android 7.1 Nougat operating system, and sport Google Assistant, a feature designed to rival Apple’s Siri.
Telekom Deutschland is offering a silver version of the device with 32 GB of memory for €9.95 ($11.16) to subscribers opting for its highest-priced Magenta Mobil L contract, which is priced at €67.45 per month including discounts on a 24-month agreement. The one-off cost for a 128 GB version in silver is €49.95 on the same contract terms, while subscribers wishing to purchase the device without a contract face costs of €759.95 for the 32 GB unit and €869.95 for the 128 GB.
EE is offering the Pixel for free to customers signing up to a 24-month 4GEE contract priced at £50.99 (€57.83/$64.93) per month. The contract offers unlimited minutes, texts, and 10 GB of mobile data per month to existing customers. The operator said the Pixel XL is also free on a 24-month contract costing £55.99 per month.
Google explained in the blog that the Pixel units represent a departure from its previous own-brand smartphones, the Nexus range. Those devices were produced by a range of handset manufacturers, primarily to showcase the capabilities of Google’s Android operating system. In contrast, the Pixel devices represent the “next step” for the company, “by bringing hardware and software design together under one roof.”
EE CEO Marc Allera commented that the Pixel devices “are market-changing smartphones”.
For more:
- see Google’s blog
- view EE’s announcement
- see this Telekom Deutschland announcement (in German)
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