Google Having A Hard Time Matching Pixel, Pixel XL Demand

Google may have come unprepared for the enthusiastic response to the launch of its Pixel and Pixel XL premium smartphones late last year. This week, it was found out that the Mountain View giant is actually struggling to meet the demand for the handsets, so consumers are left with no other choice than to wait for the devices.

According to The Verge, it appears that there hasn’t been adequate supply of both Pixel and Pixel XL. Consumers who want to acquire any of the two are simply waiting for replenishment. Others are reportedly resorting to obtaining their handset from eBay or Swappa.

The current situation does not only sound terrible because it is tremendously disastrous. Only the 32GB and 128GB Black models of the Pixel smartphone are in stock. And it isn’t clear for how long will they be available to purchase. The 128GB Silver Pixel ran out of supply in the first week of January 2017. As for the rest of the Pixel variants — the 32GB Blue and 32GB Silver — they have been out of stock since December.

For consumers who plan to purchase Google’s Pixel XL handset, they have to wait for the company’s update about its supply. All versions of the smartphone have apparently ran out. The Pixel XL 128GB Silver and Black models haven’t been in stock since November of last year. This of course hurts the Pixel XL’s success in the market, since customers are likely to go with other phones from other makers at this point.

Google is well aware of the problem. A spokesperson even said, “We’re aware about the inventory issues on the Google Store and Verizon.” However, consumers have no other choice but to wait until a fresh batch of Pixel and Pixel XL smartphones arrive. For their part, the Google spokesperson said that they are already doing their best “to restock on an ongoing basis.”

Best Buy is also a third-party retailer that is running low on supplies of the Pixel smartphones. At present, it is only selling the 32GB variant of the Pixel handset. “Demand for the Pixel isn’t a tenth of that for the iPhone 7, and we were close in our guesses. But, we underestimated demand anyway,” a BestBuy source told AppleInsider.